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[Castro]

I�ve got a question about English Grammar.

There are some verbs that we do not normally use with continuous tenses. We usually use the following verbs with simple tenses only (not continuous tenses?!?): hate, like, love, need, prefer, want, wish etc� Here are some examples: I want a coffee / not I am wanting a coffee; I don't believe you are right / not I am not believing you are right; I don't hear anything / not I am not hearing anything [http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-m_vmwct_1.htm]

But what about Larry King English (he is quite educated)? What about lyrics, movies, TV and even the press? Is it real English? Are there any rules for it? There are some examples:

- I can't believe what I�m hearing.
- I've been hearing some good things about you.
- Well, I'm hearing a lot about Russ McCallum.
- I'm hearing voices.
- Was your wife hearing voices before she had her tumor?
- Is that what I'm hearing from you, Lou ?

[Chris_Crossley]

All your uses of "hearing" in your list of citations are positive, not negative, have you noticed?

Certainly, "not hearing" is rare, but I remember the Jack Black character, Dewey Finn, in the movie, "The School of Rock", saying to Summer Hathaway (Miranda Cosgrove), "You're not hearing me, girl!" after she tried to explain to him what their normal teacher did as regards scheduling of lessons. (Not that he cared for a minute.)

I think ("I'm thinking"?) that this usage has a lot to do with the action of hearing (or understanding) at the given moment, whether in the present or the past, to make it seem "current" or, at least, largely relevant to what is happening at the moment of the conversation/citation.

"Hear" is a sense verb, just as "see", "smell", "taste" and "touch" are, and it is rare (though not impossible) to use the present continuous of sense verbs, unless, perhaps, we are giving a commentary about our actions to someone else, as in, for example, "I'm touching the object now!" or "I'm tasting the food now!"

Remember McDonald's new punchline? - "i'm loving it". Whatever happened to the capital "I", I haven't the faintest idea....