Hi
How do you find the use of “seems to be being” in the following line? Do you find it natural and correct?
This topic seems to be being repeted to death at the moment.
Tom
Hi Tom,
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
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.