Expressing enjoyment: Simple or continuous?

We know that when an English-speaker says “I love biking to work,” he means that he enjoys this activity. He probably does it as a habit (every day, for example).

But what does he mean if he says “I’m loving biking to work”?

Here he means that he is enjoying an activity that he has just started doing recently. Perhaps he used to drive to work every day, but this month he has started biking. He uses the present continuous (“am loving”) to emphasize that this is new and ongoing.

We can use this same form with other ’emotion’ verbs like hate, like, enjoy, appreciate, etc.

On your own…

Choose the correct form to complete the sentence.

1. “Brian (is hating/hates) his new job.”

“Really? That’s too bad – he only started a week ago!”

2. My wife always (appreciates/is appreciating) when I help with the dishes.

3. I think Debra (is enjoying/enjoys) her free time, now that her youngest son has moved away to college.

4. “(Do/Are) you (like/liking) Mexican food?”

5. Alex (is finding/finds) his new roommate very hard to live with. He may need to find a new apartment already!

Answer key

1. is hating 2. appreciates 3. is enjoying 4. Do/like 5. is finding

In the news: Oscar De La Renta

On October 20^th, 2014, fashion designer and style icon Oscar De La Renta passed away. In honor of his legacy, National Public Radio interviewed Washington Post fashion critic Robin Givhan. After listening to the radio program, answer the questions below:

Oscar De La Renta Was About Making Women Look And Feel Their Best

Givhan tells NPR’s Steve Inskeep that ultimately, women “want to feel pretty”. Do you agree with this statement?
Beatrice Lodge is fitted in a debutante dress by fashion designer Oscar de la Renta in 1956.

Inskeep states that De La Renta’s early years seem “so far from the world of music stars and first ladies and high fashion” and that “he seems to have come a long way”. Can you think of any other well-known people who came from very different backgrounds?

Givhan says that “one of the magical things about him…that you don’t really see anymore”was his charm and sense of propriety. For example, in their last interview “(De La Renta) apologized because he had taken off his tie. I mean, who does that?!” Do you think this attitude set De La Renta apart from others in the business? Is it an attitude that is largely nonexistent these days?

Look at a few of the fashion designs from De La Renta. Do you like the style? Why or why not?

Watch that word!

It is easy to mix up similar-sounding words in English. For example:

adept at vs. adapt to

If you are adept at something, you are good at it. If you’ve adapted to something, you’ve become used to it.

Ready to practice?

Complete the sentences with the word pairs, filling in the correct blank. The first pair of sentences have been done for you.

Today the leaders of the talks announced that Hamas would not accept the peace treaty.

I’ve enjoyed every single one of Harrison Ford’s movies, except for ‘The Fugitive’.

I urged Amanda to tell her father about how the car got damaged, but she wouldn’t take my _______.
The FDA ________ that you eat an average of five servings of fruit or vegetables every day.

The wedding planner ________ that every aspect of the wedding went smoothly.
The concierge _______ us that there were plenty of nice restaurants within walking distance of the hotel.

The news report ________ that the company’s CEO is to blame.
Every year thousands of students ________ to universities in the United States.

Once the fallen tree has been removed from the train tracks, we can ______ on to Prague.
The novel is _______ by a few pages of maps, family trees and history notes.

Josh was much shorter _______ his brother.
You need to clean the kitchen, ______ do the laundry.

The _______ of the second book in the series is called ‘The Two Towers’.
Lately _________ have had nothing but bad news about unrest in eastern Ukraine.

I was really ______ embarrassed about it.

It’s not very __________ to spend so much money on a gadget that you don’t really need.
Carla’s skin is so ________ that she can’t wear most kinds of lotion or perfume.

The laboratory _________ tested how quickly mice could learn certain patterns.
The two months I spent in Kenya working with young children was an amazing, life-changing __________.

If you find that you’re having trouble with any of these matches, take a moment to look up the definitions of each word.