starseed

Is this proper english?

"Joe kept touching her"

as opposed to

"Joe continued touching her"

or

"Joe touched her"

It seems like I might be using "kept" incorrectly. I'm not sure. Sorry if this is a dumb question it's just when I looked up "kept" it wasn't being used in that manner.

lisajane

I would use 'kept' (and the other two, depending on what I felt like using), whether it's proper English, I don't know.

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AdamK

According to the dictionary:
And the sentence that is given with this construction as an example:
So... it seems such a usage of "kept" is possible, in the meaning that somebody didn't stop doing something, which is equal to the meaning that somebody continued doing something.

There is also a construction “keep on doing something”, which is a phrasal verb. Its meaning is: “to continue to do something, or to do something again and again”. The example sentence is: “She kept on asking me questions the whole time.” The meaning of both constructions seems to be the same or very very similar.

In conclusion, your sentence is correct.

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starseed

Cool, thanks!