In the previous posts, I looked at the four sorts of stative verbs. ‘Stative’ means ‘about states’ or unchanging conditions. The four sorts of verbs are verbs of Senses (smell, hear, sense), Ownership (have, contain, belong), Mind (believe, trust, know), Emotion (love, hate, adore). I remember these by thinking ‘SOME verbs are stative’.
But in the last three posts, I also mentioned that, when thinking about stative (SOME) verbs, it is not just the meaning of the verb which matters, but also the way it is used, and this can depend on the specific situation.
Let’s look at the verb ‘love’. Isn’t this a verb about the emotion? That’s the E in SOME? So, it must be stative, right? Right!
Darling, I’m loving you. [incorrect]
I’m loving living here. [incorrect]
But the fast-food company, MacDonalds, use the phrase,
I’m loving it.
Hmmm. Why not ‘I love it.’? Well, the company is trying to be cute with English by saying something in a way that is not normal. Perhaps they are trying to give the meaning that right now, as I eat this hamburger, ‘love’ is the feeling I am experiencing about it. Well, that hamburger in the above picture does look pretty nice, and I mentioned in a previous post that English grammar can be flexible. This is just an example of that.
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