MISTAKE MONDAY: **I AM OWNING A CAR**
22 / 09 / 2014
MISTAKE MONDAY: **I AM OWNING A CAR**: meaning and examples
Good morning everyone. I hope you had a nice weekend.
On Mistake Monday the Daily Vitamin focuses on an error commonly made by English learners. Can you spot the blunder in the sentence below?
Sentence 1: **I am owning a car.**
This sentence uses the verb OWN with the Present Progressive tense. However, OWN is a Non-Action Verb, and so it cannot be used with Progressive tenses.
The correct sentence should read: I own a car.
This same rule applies to other synonyms for the verb OWN, like HAVE and POSSESS.
Example 1:
She has two dogs. (NOT **"She is having two dogs."**)
Example 2:
He possesses three restaurants on this street.
Tune in tomorrow for Tense Tuesday, where we look at one of the twelve English tenses. We will examine the Present Progressive to complain about people's habits.
Have a great day!
On Mistake Monday the Daily Vitamin focuses on an error commonly made by English learners. Can you spot the blunder in the sentence below?
Sentence 1: **I am owning a car.**
This sentence uses the verb OWN with the Present Progressive tense. However, OWN is a Non-Action Verb, and so it cannot be used with Progressive tenses.
The correct sentence should read: I own a car.
This same rule applies to other synonyms for the verb OWN, like HAVE and POSSESS.
Example 1:
She has two dogs. (NOT **"She is having two dogs."**)
Example 2:
He possesses three restaurants on this street.
Tune in tomorrow for Tense Tuesday, where we look at one of the twelve English tenses. We will examine the Present Progressive to complain about people's habits.
Have a great day!
