"Is heading" or "Is headed"

IP: *.hsd1.ca.comcast.net 04.09.08, 22:18
I live in the USA and the frase they use is eg. "Mr. Smith is Headed to
Washington", or "Hurricane Hannah is headed towards Florida". I was told in
school (In Canada) to use frase "is heading", eg. "Mr. Smith is heading to
Washington or "The hurricane is heading towards Florida". Version with -ing
seems correct to me, but most Americans use the one with -eded ending,. which
is correct?


Regards,

Jerzy
    • jonathan.oakley Re: "Is heading" or "Is headed" 06.09.08, 15:22
      Hi there,
      Ive just been watching Republican party speeches on Sky TV. What do
      you think of 'Palin power?' The Democrats believe that some of
      Hilary Clinton's supporters' will defect. What do you think?

      Thanks for your question. We basically have the present particple of
      the verb 'to head' - heading; and the past particple - headed. Both
      sentences you have mentioned are correct. Another example, but using
      a different pairing is:

      When the Northern hemisphere is pointed/pointing towards the Sun,
      the days are longer and brighter.

      I guess language constructs are formed by common concesus: meaning
      if everyone starts to say something in a certain way it becomes
      accepted as part of the language. :-)
Pełna wersja