Representing thinking, perceiving, liking and desiring

Using verb patterns to represent likes and dislikes

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Present simple v present continuous tense

With verbs which represent likes and dislikes, the present simple tense is the normal tense for referring to the present situation. Note that the present situation may extend into the past and future as well. This tense is typically used when there is no clear beginning or ending to the emotion which is being represented:

I love good food: Italian, Chinese, Japanese. I particularly love fish.
(SCMP 25/9/92)

My parents dislike Don immensely, and the fact that I could fall in love with a Jew was just beyond them. (SCMP 11/3/94)

And for most verbs, it is not possible to represent the same idea in the present continuous:

I am loving good food: Italian, Chinese, Japanese. I am particularly loving fish.

My parents are disliking Don immensely.

However, it is possible to use the present continuous tense with many verbs which represent likes and dislikes, especially when referring to a situation which is still in progress:

Move over Chow Yun-fatt, there's a new star in town. And former top civil servant Peter Tsao Kwang-yung (for it is he) is loving every minute of it.
(SCMP 7/8/92)

Bimbos certainly do it. Middle-aged matrons do it. Young maidens do it. Even feminists do it. Tabitha is doing it right now. She is analysing her reflection in the mirror, and disliking what she sees. (Bank of English)

Note the reference to the present time. Here are some more examples where the speaker uses the present continuous to emphasise that what is being felt is happening at the present:

Old colleagues are resenting his intrusion on their territory: "Any external agent is going to be viewed with a certain amount of suspicion." (Microconcord Corpus A)

I think that must be the question which Wesker is dreading. (Bank of English)

For further information about the present simple and present continuous, see Using the present simple and continuous: Overview.

Introduction
Participants associated with attitude verbs
Grammatical patterns associated with the phenomenon
Verb followed by a noun form
Verb followed by the -ing group
Verb followed by the to-infinitive
Verb followed by an object and the -ing form
Verb followed by an object and the to-infinitive
Verb followed by a that clause
Ellipsis with attitude verbs
Present simple v present continuous tense
A note on the order of participants