Discussion
In the sentence below, a part is printed in bold. Choose the alternative that improves it. If the sentence needs no change, choose ‘No improvement’.
He is knowing the answer to this question.
Answer: B
Correct answer: knows
Know is a stative verb, describing a state rather than an activity, and stative verbs are not used in continuous tenses. The simple present is required: he knows the answer. The group is worth learning, since the error is extremely common in Indian English: know, believe, understand, remember, forget, want, like, love, hate, prefer, own, belong, contain, consist, seem and need. A few verbs are stative in one sense and dynamic in another, and then the continuous becomes correct: I am thinking about it means considering, while I think it is true expresses an opinion; he is having lunch means eating, while he has a car means possessing. The test is whether the verb describes something you do or something that simply is.
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