John,

This is sometimes called the "passival," where the subject of certain
active verbs can be used in the progressive as a kind of passive. Other
examples:

   - The water is boiling. [i.e., being boiled]
   - The cookies are baking.
   - The laundry is soaking.

The passival was formerly in general use (The house is building) but is now
restricted to a few verbs.
I don't think "growing" is an example of this, since the verb has both
transitive and intransitive definitions.

Dick

On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 7:23 AM, John Crow <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> What's up with the following pair of sentences?
>
>    1. The Smiths are selling their furniture.
>    2. The plants are selling like hotcakes.
>
>
>    - #1 is obviously a standard present progressive SVO.  Is #2 just an
>    intransitive form of "to sell"?
>    - Are there other examples like this or is this idiosyncratic to
>    "sell"?
>
> Just thought of another possible candidate:
>
>    - John is growing cauliflower.
>    - The cauliflower is growing bigger every day.
>
> Thanks,
>
> John
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