Thanks, Michael.
Yes, I'm familiar with this usage of psych verbs.  You're right, 'to  love 
something' can be very different from 'to be loving something'.  But  with this 
group of psych verbs we often expect human participants, and we  see humans as 
acting with intention.  So, unless the event were  instantaneous, you would 
expect to be able to use the progressive.  
 
But "mean" is different because you can have non-human subject participants  
as well, so I think that is what struck me about Tim's example.
 
Hmmm, well, actually, the following two examples with the other group  of 
psych verbs would mean something different, wouldn't they?
 
The mask was frightening me.
The man was frightening me.
 
The interesting thing about the mask example is that the frightening event  
needs to be measured on the object participant 'me'.  So the process of  
becoming more and more frightened would be evident on 'me.'
But with the man frightening me, you've got a different kettle of  fish.  
Does the sentence refer to what the man is doing or what process is  happening to 
me?  You can imagine how this sentence might seem ambiguous,  right?  Only 
the speaker would know for sure.
 
 
Linda
 
 
   
 
 

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