Is it really wrong to say "I'm hearing"?

Question

Many grammar books claim that ‘see’, ‘hear’, ‘taste’, ‘smell’, ‘feel’ are verbs that aren’t used in continuous forms, and yet, we do hear and see it quite often used by native speakers. For instance, read the title of this article:

Are You Hearing Enough Complaints?

The average complainer tells nine or more others about his unhappy experience. So successfully resolving a complaint is not only likely to generate increased business from the complainer, but also to restore nine or more potentially lost opportunities with other customers or prospects. The point is, if you're not hearing any complaints this might be a reason to worry, rather than to congratulate yourself.

I myself would say "I'm hearing more and more people pronounce this word this way" just as much as I would say "I hear more and more people..."

Your thoughts, native speakers? Does using the continuous form of this verb feel odd to you?

Answer 1

1. Are you hearing that noise?
2. That cake is tasting delicious.
3. You are smelling like a rose.
4. He is seeing the blue sky.

All of the above sentences would be considered as being either ungrammatical or nonstandard English by most prescriptive grammar books. And I would avoid saying these type of phrases myself. Furthermore, it is true that verbs of senses are not normally used in the present progressive but I've never read a grammar book which strictly prohibited their use. Sentences 1 to 4 will sound more natural and "native-like" if the present simple tense is employed.

1. Can you hear that noise?
2. That cake tastes delicious.
3. You smell like a rose.
4. He can see the blue sky.

The verb hear often means we perceive or detect a sound with our ears. It is not a dynamic action but an involuntary one, hence it is classed as being a stative verb. On the other hand, the verb listen expresses intention and is a dynamic verb. Consider:

A: What are you listening to?
B: This great album by [group], I'm always listening to their music.

You couldn't replace listen with hear in that particular context.

To express the concept that a noise is audible with your ears, we often use the modal verb, can in the present tense.

(Three friends on Skype)
A: Can you hear me, now?
B: Yes, I can hear you loud and clear.
C: No, sorry. I can't. It's very difficult to make out what you're saying. The audio's not very good I'm afraid.

Wikipedia confirms and adds

Verbs of mental state, sense perception and similar (know, believe, want, think, see, hear, need, etc.) are generally used without progressive aspect, although some of them can be used in the progressive to imply an ongoing, often temporary situation (I am feeling lonely), or an activity (I am thinking about a problem). (...) In colloquial English it is common to use can see, can hear for the present tense of see, hear, etc.

However, the verb hear also means to receive information by the ear, as Ws2's answer illustrates, and in this case the progressive form can be used e.g.,

• I'm constantly hearing stories about those awful people who've recently moved in the neighbourhood. They say, the son is an ex-convict.
• I am constantly hearing about sugar and how it is truly evil (...).
• This is the first time I'm hearing this.

and in the phrase quoted by the OP

"Are you hearing enough complaints?" = Have you been receiving information recently?

^{Feel in my opinion, does not fit very well in the category of stative verbs. Feel when it is a sense can be used in the progressive form as much as the present simple tense. 1) I'm feeling lazy today (I feel lazy today) 2) How are you feeling? (How do you feel?) 3) He's not feeling too well. (He doesn't feel too well.) BUT 4) What are you doing? I'm feeling this textile (I feel this textile.).}

I can use the continuous tense in the following without any fear of sounding odd: "I'm smelling this milk to see if it's any good", "What are you tasting?"; "The sniffer-dog is smelling all the suitcases for explosives" (as suggested by Ws2); and "I'm seeing Anthony later tonight."

Michael Swan in Practical English Usage gives a list and definition of these stative verbs.

There are many verbs that are not usually used in the progressive tenses and others that are not used in the progressive tenses in certain of their meanings. The most important of these [stative] verbs are:

1. dislike, hate, like, love, prefer, want, wish
2. astonish, impress, please, satisfy, surprise
3. believe, doubt, feel (=have an opinion), guess, imagine, know, mean, realize, recognize, remember, suppose, think (=have an opinion), understand
4. hear, see, measure (=have length etc), taste (=have a flavour), smell (=give out a smell), sound, weigh (= have weight)
5. belong to, concern, consist of, contain, depend on, deserve, fit, include, involve, lack, matter, need, owe, own, possess
6. appear, resemble, seem

So to summarise, it is not true that the verbs, hear, see, taste, etc. are not used in the continuous forms, it depends on context and meaning.

Answer 2

according to English Grammar by E. Istomina, A. Saakyan "The verbs of sense and mental perception (see, hear, understand) are used to express surprise, doubt, disbelief (especially in questions): What am I hearing here? I can't believe what I am seeing! Am I understanding you correctly?

Answer 3

I see nothing wrong with using the continuous form of any of them.

'I am seeing more examples of late tackles from the United defenders'.

'I am constantly hearing complaints about that referee'.

'I am now tasting wine for a living'.

'The sniffer-dog is currently smelling all the suitcases for explosives'

'How are you feeling? I'm feeling much better, thank-you'.

This is the first time I have ever heard it suggested that the present continuous should not be used for these verbs!

Answer 4

Is it really wrong to say “I'm hearing”?

The simple and continuous forms of all verbs have their respective nuances and you should decide what you want the sentence to mean, and then choose the appropriate form.

All simple forms of the verb indicate an action as a whole - from start to finish.

The simple form of the verb can indicate a habitual or regular action that

(i) is/was/will be complete/completed each time it is undertaken.

A: What do you do to keep fit? B: I ride a bike. -> “ride” includes everything from getting on the bike at the start of the journey to getting off the bike at the end.

Or

(ii) a single, complete or completed present, future, or past action:

"He told me that I had to visit the Eiffel Tower, so I go/went/will go to Paris on Wednesday” -> “go/went/will go” includes everything from the decision being made, bags being packed, going to the airport, etc., to the arrival in Paris.

(iii) a habitual, recurring, regular or frequent action (that is completed each time)

On Saturdays, I go to the gym.

He ate toast for breakfast every day of his life.

The continuous form of the verb indicates

(i) an action that is/was/will be

(i) incomplete and

(ii) in progress

(iii) at the time that is being referred to (it has started but it has not yet finished) ->

I will be/am/was/have been/had been riding a bike = I will be/am/was/have been/had been in the process of riding a bike but have not yet finished riding the bike at the time I am referring to.

The continuous form used to be known as “the imperfect”: It was called “imperfect” because the action had not been “perfected” i.e. it had not finished.

OED 5. Grammar. Applied to a tense which denotes action going on but not completed; usually [edit - but not always] to the past tense of incomplete or progressive action.

1871 H. J. Roby Gram. Latin Lang. §549 Three [tenses] denoting incomplete action; the Present, Future, and Imperfect (sometimes called respectively, present imperfect, future imperfect, past imperfect).