Are both sentences correct?

Both common vernacular, Tang

If any grammatical issues no doubt we will hear from a participant more vital than I

At the time of suffering from a medical condition, we can use the simple present tense of 'have' - I have a cold, I have a fever, I have a broken leg, I have tonsilitis. or we can say I am suffering from a cold, a fever, etc. Not 'I am having...' However a pregnant woman will say 'I am having a baby'.

I am having a cold sounds like Inglish (Indian English).

When talking about a condition in general we can say I hate having a cold, fever etc.

Tes is right of course, No. 1 though vernacular is not so common after all

In fact my BH, incidentally much smarter than me, says it's absolutely wrong

Agree, but it's really tough to explain, isn't it?

It is absolutely wrong. You would not say I am having a car, a hat, a dog. The verb 'have' used this way is non-continuous and you must use the simple present.

Yet Tes, you could say, "I'm having a fit"

I don't know if people having fits are capable of speech, but you would use 'having' about a fit, which is a transient event like a heart attack, a migraine, a crisis of conscience, second thoughts, etc.

Yes, that is what I mean. The difference between “I have a cold" and “I’m having a heart attack” is to do with duration. A cold or a headache may last an hour, several hours, or days, and is generally of longer duration than a heart attack, a fit or a stroke which lasts only a few seconds or minutes.

Thanks, Tes yeux noirs.

Yes thanks again Tes, but

...like a fever. Thus, having a fever

So I'm still in the dark
...as always apparently

Now I see your reasoning, but to me it seems tenuous

You don't have a fever for 1 or 2 minutes, you have it for a day or two.

There is a point that needs to be made, and it's one that could be usefully be made in a lot of these threads in which foreign learners ask "which of these is right?", and where native speakers attempt to (a) answer the direct question and (b) give a reason for their answer.

Quite often it is not possible to explain such an answer as the one here, by spelling out a 'rule'. One can, however proceed by noting what native speakers usually say and write. one can note that we generally say someone is 'having' a short-term or transient mental or physical experience: I am having a fit, a heart attack, a migraine, a crisis of conscience, second thoughts, a attack of nausea, a labour contraction, an orgasm, pangs of hunger, a meal, a nap, a frisson, an affair, a field day, difficulty getting through to my sister, an asthma attack and so on. Donald Trump's campaign is having a 'near-death' experience, according to Today.

One can also note that we 'have' conditions that persist for a longer or indefinite period. I have a cold, cancer, multiple sclerosis, Down syndrome, AIDS, irritable bowel syndrome, male pattern baldness, flu, eczema, varicose veins, piles, one leg shorter than the other, myopia, astigmatism, blocked ears.

The point is, the learner cannot always be given a rule which will infallibly direct him to the right choice. This comes from much reading and listening.


This is just observation. Not a 'rule'. You will find examples which stray over the arbitrary line. You will find native speakers who

For sure. I often avoid the questions that ask "why"? I usually lack the ability to provide a rule or even a clear answer.

Unfortunately I did not edit my last post properly and it has an orphaned line at the end, which may be ignored.

Thanks again Tes. Catching on a little better but still bleary