Mohammad Abdullah,
Stative Verbs
Definition:-
Stative verbs (also known as state verbs) are verbs that describe a static condition, situation, or state of being. They are contrasted with action verbs (also called dynamic verbs), which describe an active, dynamic action that can be performed by a person or thing.
Stative verbs can be in the present, past, or future tense; however, because they describe static conditions, they are usually unable to progress through time, and they therefore cannot be used when forming the continuous or progressive forms of verb tenses. For this reason, they are sometimes referred to as non-continuous verbs or non-progressive verbs.
However, some stative verbs can be used in a continuous tense in certain situations, as when describing a temporary state that has begun and will end. This is becoming more common in modern English, and the prescriptive rule that stative verbs can never be continuous is becoming less strict. We’ll look at some of these exceptions in the sections below.
Types of stative verbs
Linking verbs are usually used as stative verbs; these include the verb be and the verbs of the senses. Other verbs that are considered stative are those that express emotions, possession, cognition, and states or qualities.
Below, we’ll look at common examples of different types of stative verbs. As we will see, certain verbs can be either dynamic or stative, depending on their use and context in a sentence.
(It’s important to note that the sections below do not contain exhaustive lists of stative verbs; they are only meant to provide illustrative examples.)
To be
The verb be is the most common linking verb. It is used for describing general characterizations, sensations, measurements, location, or to rename the subject.
For example:
“You are wrong.”
“It was hot yesterday.”
“I am not hungry.”
“They were confused.”
“I can tell that you are upset.”
“Our daughter is one week old.”
“She is five feet tall.”
“John is in the other room.”
“This is a lost cause.”
Using the continuous form
However, the linking verb be can function as an action verb when it is used to mean “to behave.” We can test whether be is acting as a stative or action verb by putting it into one of the continuous tenses. For example:
✔ “The children are being too noisy.” (Correct—it is an action verb.)
- “The children are being outside.” (Incorrect—it is a stative verb.)
Sense verbs:-
Verbs of the senses, or “sense verbs” for short, are used to indicate perceptions based on physical or mental sensations. The sense verbs are:
taste
smell
sound
seem
feel
look
appear
When sense verbs are used as linking verbs, they merely relate the means by which the speaker has arrived at such a sensation about the subject. We pair them with predicative adjectives.
For example:
“I feel terrible today.”
“You sound tired.”
“She didn’t sound Irish.”
“You look fabulous today.”
“He doesn’t look very happy.”
“This doesn’t seem right.”
“The car appears OK, but I’ll have to drive it to be sure.”
“That smells nice.”
“This milk tastes strange.”
Using the continuous form
Note, however, that some of the sense verbs can take the continuous tense to describe a temporary state in some contexts; they are more common in more casual speech and writing. For example:
- “You are looking great, Suzy!”
- “It is seeming less likely by the day that we will succeed.”
The sense verb feel is unique, though, in that it is very often used in the continuous form when talking about one’s or someone else’s health, as in:
- “I’m not feeling well at all.”
- “Are you feeling OK, John?”
Certain sense verbs also function as action verbs in other contexts, and these can take the continuous form. For example:
- “I was feeling gently around the table in the dark.”
- “The guards are sounding the alarm!”
- “What’s that delicious food I am smelling?”
- “He was looking across the table at me.”
- “Birds have been appearing out of nowhere.”
Verbs of emotion:-
Verbs that describe our emotions about something are also considered stative. These transitive verbs take nouns, noun phrases, gerunds, and sometimes infinitives as their objects. Here are some common examples using stative verbs of emotion:
“She likes old movies.”
“My son loves to read.”
“I enjoy walking along the beach.”
“I hate to eat dinner alone.”
“The kids dislike sharing their toys.”
“I prefer salad to French fries.”
“I don’t mind eating vegetables.”
Most of the time, a verb of emotion can take either a gerund or an infinitive with little to no difference in meaning. However, an infinitive sometimes refers to a potential activity, while a gerund refers to an activity in general.
Other verbs of emotion, such as enjoy or don’t mind, can’t take the infinitive at all:
- “I enjoy to play” (incorrect) ✔ “I enjoy playing tennis.” (correct)
- “I don’t mind to work on my own.” (incorrect) ✔ “I don’t mind working on my own.” (correct)
Using the continuous form
As with the sense verbs, we can sometimes use verbs of emotion in the continuous form to describe an ongoing but temporary sensation. However, such uses are generally quite informal. For example:
- “We are loving this neighborhood.”
- “I’m liking our chances of winning the championship.”
- “I’m hating the second season of this show.”
Although enjoy is a verb of emotion, it is often used in the continuous form and is not considered informal. For instance:
- “He is enjoying his newfound wealth.”
- “Are you enjoying your meal?”
However, there are still some verbs of emotion that generally do not take a continuous form, as in:
- “She is preferring her old school.” (incorrect)
Source:- The Farlex English Grammar Book By Peter Herring.
