Hello everybody,
When I walked among some friends to have lunch, I said to them as below sentence:
I’m having lunch.
Is that correct?
Thanks in advance.
I’m not sure. What is your intention? If you are walking with friends on the way to lunch, why would you say this?
I meant, I walked alone through office’s visited room and there are some friends who still sitting there, so I just said to them “ I’m having lunch now”. Because it’s lunch time and I went home for lunch.
Yes, that’s fine-- or ‘I’m going for lunch now’, which is more common.
Thank you so much Mr.Micawber.
There are some foreign consultants in the office, so I have to practice my English with them.
Actually, “I’m having lunch now” is not correct.
Have – like love, want, need – is a stative verb, which means it cannot be used in the present participle form. However, with this verb in particular, it is commonly used as substitute for other verbs (e.g., eating, drinking, enjoying, etc.).
So to say “I’m having lunch now” means “I’m eating lunch now” (meaning that lunch is currently being eaten). It cannot and does not mean “I’m going to lunch” or “on my lunch break now.”
Actually, ‘I’m having lunch now’ is fine and common in this sort of use, Brently. If you are in an English-speaking country, have a listen to the people around you. Statives are in fact often used in progressive aspect.
I didn’t say that people don’t use it. It was posed as a grammar question. Despite it being common use, it is incorrect because “I’m having lunch now” means something totally different.
I am a native speaker, and also an associate professor of English who teaches English grammar.
Nevertheless, you reveal your prescriptivist tendencies. ‘In common use’ precludes its being considered ‘incorrect’, Professor. Note that the grammar question originally posed includes this context: “When I walked among some friends to have lunch, I said to them…”. It is not one of your essay assignments.
I understand what you’re saying, but the problem here is that “I’m having lunch” means simply that lunch is in progress. It is not the same as “I’m going to lunch” or “I’m going to have lunch now.”
Common use does often override formal grammar rules, however, for students who are not native speakers, it’s important to know when a pattern can have two completely different meanings or interpretations. Generally, one is correct, the other not. Common use in this sense then needs to be recognized as incorrect because it leads to misinterpretation.
“Have,” as I stated in my original reply, is often used to substitute other verbs, and this has been long established as acceptable. However, “to have lunch” means “to eat lunch.” Therefore, “I’m having lunch” is in the present progressive tense, meaning that lunch is already in progress. It cannot be used to mean two entirely different things. This is why we have grammar rules.
Common use or not, it’s incorrect and leads to confusion and misunderstanding.
You are forgetting that the present progressive for near future events is one of the commonest future forms, Brently:
I’m eating lunch with the boss today.
We’re meeting at noon.
They’re having a party for me for my birthday.
We’re moving to St. Louis.
etc.
It is not confusing at all-- any more than ‘right’ can be confused with ‘wright’, ‘write’ or ‘rite’-- since context explains what is meant.
In fact, in this sort of situation, present progressive is probably even more common as a future form than as a reference to the immediate situation, since we seldom have to explain what we’re doing at the moment-- especially when it’s noon and our mouths are full of ham sandwich.
And that is not why we have grammar rules. Grammar ‘rules’ are observations of how it is done, and are an aid in keeping a student from saying “I’m have lunch”.
I have to apologize. I just realized that what I was originally replying to and the example you provided were not the same.
You’re correct in what you said about the present progressive, especially so in how frequently it is used instead of the “will” and “be going to” future forms.
What I was arguing was not your “I’m having lunch now” example, but the original “I’m having lunch.” The addition of “now” changes the time frame of the sentence entirely. My stance was that stating “I’m having lunch” by itself is not a proper sentence to mean that I’m doing it “in a few minutes,” and so on.
After reading your last examples, I see now that we were debating around entirely different aspects. Your answer is correct. My apologies. I somehow confused yours with the original post’s.