looking for / finding

Sentence one is correct.

Sentence two is not necessarily incorrect, although it is awfully damned awkward. To find someone or something is a reference to a discrete occurrence in time. Someone or something is either found or not found. Using the present participle in such a case sounds rather stupid. The present participle "finding" is usually used in an abstract sense to mean learning. For example: I'm finding it difficult to work with the team from World Sprockets and Widgets. In that case, the speaker suggests that he or she may not be able to work with the team from WSW, and is only now coming to the realization--but acknowledges that he or she may be wrong, and may yet be able to work with the team from WSW.

But for the simple, physical act of finding someone or something, one would almost always say: I found it, and not I am finding it.

Re: looking for / finding


Forgive me for being a little dense. If your question is whether or not "I'm finding my cat." is the same as "I'm looking for my cat," the answer is definitely no--"finding" would never be used to mean "looking for."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Thanks, everybody, for your reply.