Learn English – “I’ve been loving you” is not a formal English

grammarpresent-continuouspresent-participles

The phrase I've been loving you is not formal English.

Or so I'm told. I can't figure out what is wrong, though, please someone kindly explain.

I did google and found on WordReference the thread: Since I've been loving you/Since I've loved

The problem is I don't even understand why 'loving' (Post #3) is considered incorrect.

Spot on, Alex! The point here is that "love" is a stative verb. If you look at the British Council Learn English site here, you'll see that stative verbs are "not usually used in the continuous form, even when we are talking about temporary situations or states …"

English is not my native language.

Best Answer

To the extent that it's wrong, it's because others consider love to be a stative verb like be or have. To the extent you disagree, you're treating it as an active or dynamic verb.

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