#2 (permalink) Wed Mar 07, 2007 20:58 pm Ue of "seems to be being" |
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Hi Tom,
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| This topic seems to be being repeated to death at the moment. |
The use of this present continuous passive certainly sounds a bit of a mouthful here especially the 'be being' bit. But it's still grammatically kosher and rather emphasises, in a humorous way, the idea of repeated to death.
A _________________ English as a Second Language You can read my ESL story Present Simple |
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Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 13891 Location: UK
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#3 (permalink) Thu Mar 08, 2007 2:26 am Ue of "seems to be being" |
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You could say, "He seems to be being obstinate," or something like that, but we'd be more likely to say, "It seems like [or as if] he's being obstinate." So for your sentence I'd say, "It seems [that] this topic is being repeated to death at the moment."
But as Alan says, "seems to be being" is okay grammatically, and in the right sentence it would be kind of humorous, although it might sound excessively overredundant to some people. |
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Jamie (K) I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006 Posts: 6552 Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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