Is "I'm loving it" correct grammar?

A few years ago, McDonalds restaurants started a TV commercial campaign with the slogan:

"I'm lovin' it."

 

Some people complained that it was bad grammar. Traditionally, "love" has been used as a stative verb. Stative verbs (such as "like", "want", "smell", and "feel") are not used in continuous form ("liking", "wanting", etc.) So traditionally, you would say:

I love it.

However, the McDonald's commercial was quite successful, and most people didn't notice anything wrong with "I'm loving it." This is a sign that people's ideas about stative verbs are changing. Young people especially use stative verbs in the continuous form.

"I'm loving it" sounds more active than "I love it." It's a good expression for situations like when you've just started to use a new product, and you want to describe your feelings about it so far:

A: What do you think of the new book?

B: I'm loving it so far.

Here are some examples with other stative verbs:

I'm hoping that Francine will be there.

I'm not feeling very good about this.

This meat isn't smelling very good.

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