grammaticality - Is “Am I needing to. . . ?” grammatical?


In the course of answering this question (which is now deleted and may be viewed only by 10K+ community members), we have evoked some dispute over whether the phrase



Am I needing to read this book?



is grammatical. I think it is correct, although not common, but others think differently. Is this a correct grammatical structure, albeit perhaps a bit odd?



EDIT: I think I should clarify further. I don’t disagree that this phrasing is unusual; in fact, that’s what I said in the other answer. What I am interested in is whether it is correct or not. I think it is because of its uncommonness that I am not certain. It might be more straightforward to ask it this way:



Is the sentence “I am needing to read this book” grammatical? If not, why not?




Answer




I am needing to read this book



is incorrect in Standard American English in all registers (formal, informal, regional etc.). If you say this to an SAmE speaker, it will sound very strange/foreign/disfluent to them. They will interpret to mean something like "I need to read this book" which is probably what was meant.


RegDwight's comment about stative verbs seems to be a good explanation ("I am going to the store" is OK, but "I am needing... is not" because 'need' is stative (it -is- the case/expresses a state rather than a continued action (an implicit verbal aspect).


On the other hand, it seems to be acceptable phrasing in Indian English and corresponds directly to "I need to read this book".


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