What does it mean to be asked “Are you understanding me?”

ONE not so widely taught attribute of the English language is that not all of its verbs can properly function in the progressive or continuous form (ending in “-ing”). This is why in the case of the transitive verb “love,” for instance, I’m sure that many of us felt a vague but strong discomfort the first time we heard the burger ad slogan “I’m loving it!” That’s not the right way to say it, my own inner ear told me that time; it could be the present-perfect “I’ve loved it” or the present-tense “I love it!” or the future-tense “I will love it” but never, never the wrong progressive “I’m loving it!”!

We cringe over that grammar usage because verbs like “love” denote a state or action that can neither be stopped nor started at will; they are typically involuntary actions that just happen automatically. Such verbs are called stative verbs as opposed to action or dynamic verbs like “talk,” “whisper,” and “grow,”which denote an unfolding action, process, or sensation. In contrast, stative verbs like “love,” “belong,”and “prefer” typically denote thoughts, emotions, relationships, senses, and states of being, and it’s unnatural or out of turn for them to take the progressive form.