I am beginning to worry or I begin to worry

Question

I begin to worry because I have not received the parcel you sent me 2 weeks ago.

If I want to emphasize the anxiety that is growing each day, can I use I am beginning to worry ?

I was going to cite this NGram to show that the progressive / continuous verb form is gradually becoming more common with *beginning [to do something]*. But whereas that's true across the past couple of centuries, the trend seems to have reversed in recent decades.. Your choice, but I'd use the continuous. — FumbleFingers, Dec 27 '20 at 14:18

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 02 '21 at 20:37

I am beginning to worry is correct and natural, and it implies increasing anxiety, so the best choice for this context.

I begin to worry is bad grammar in this context because present simple implies a repeated event or a continuous state, but "begin" is not happening repeatedly, and is never a continuous state (something cannot continually begin).

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 27 '20 at 14:20

0

I'm (getting) worried/It worries me (that) the parcel you sent me (2 weeks ago) hasn't arrived yet.

To stress the constant growth of your anxiety, you could use either "increasingly worried" or "more and more worried".

answered Dec 27 '20 at 14:20

Andrew Tobilko

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score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 26 '21 at 15:26

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I am beginning to worry would be for present tense, and the past tense would be I began to worry

answered Jan 26 '21 at 15:26

And which one of those is the one the author should use? This doesn’t answer the question, it just makes some statements about some of the words in the question. – ColleenV Jan 26 '21 at 18:44

I am beginning to worry or I begin to worry

3 Answers3