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Stative and Dynamic Verbs

The document discusses two types of verbs: dynamic verbs and stative verbs. Dynamic verbs describe activities or events that can begin and finish, such as play, melt, and hit. Stative verbs refer to states or conditions that are generally static or unchanging, such as want, love, hate, like, see, and have. Some verbs like be, think, have, see, taste can be either dynamic or stative depending on how they are used in a sentence.

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Geane Carlo Sanchez Jara
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218 views7 pages

Stative and Dynamic Verbs

The document discusses two types of verbs: dynamic verbs and stative verbs. Dynamic verbs describe activities or events that can begin and finish, such as play, melt, and hit. Stative verbs refer to states or conditions that are generally static or unchanging, such as want, love, hate, like, see, and have. Some verbs like be, think, have, see, taste can be either dynamic or stative depending on how they are used in a sentence.

Uploaded by

Geane Carlo Sanchez Jara
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Dynamic verbs

There are many types of dynamic verbs, but most of them describe
activities or events which can begin and finish. Here are some examples.

Dynamic
Type Examples
Verb

She plays tennis every Friday.


play activity She's playing tennis right now.

The snow melts every spring.


melt process The snow is melting right now.

When one boxer hits another, brain damage


can result. (This suggests only ONE punch.)
momentary
hit When one boxer is hitting another, brain
action
damage can result. (This suggests MANY
repeated punches.)
Dynamic verbs, as you can see from the table, can be used
in the simple and perfect forms (plays, played, has played,
had played) as well as the continuous forms (is playing, was
playing, has been playing, had been playing).
Stative verbs
Stative verbs usually refer to a state or condition which is quite static or
unchanging. They can be divided into verbs of perception or cognition
(which refer to things in the mind), or verbs of relation (which describe
the relationships between things). Here are some examples:

Stative
Type Examples
Verb

hate perception I hate chocolate.

believe perception She believes in UFOs.

contain relation The box contains 24 cans of soda.

own relation
Luis owns three motorbikes.
Note that we CANNOT use these verbs in the continuous
(progressive) forms; you CAN'T say "*Yong is owning three
cars." Owning is a state, not an action, so it is always in the
simple form.
Stative Verbs Dynamic Verbs
want eat
love drink
hate go
like type
see read
hear write
sound listen
think (meaning "have an opinion") speak
mind (meaning "care about") watch
recognize say
seem grow
have (meaning "own") work
prefer sleep
doubt cook
remember talk
understand study
believe jump
Be
be is usually a stative verb, but when it is used in the continuous it
means ‘behaving’ or ‘acting’
you are silly = it’s part of your personality
you are being silly = only now, not usually

Think
think (stative) = have an opinion
I think that coffee is great.

think (dynamic) = consider, have in my head


what are you thinking about? I’m thinking about my next holiday

Have
have (stative) = own
I have a car.

have (dynamic) = part of an expression


I’m having a party / a picnic / a bath / a good time / a break
See
see (stative) = see with your eyes / understand
I see what you mean.
I see her now, she’s just coming along the road.

see (dynamic) = meet / have a relationship with


I’ve been seeing my boyfriend for three years.
I’m seeing Robert tomorrow.

Taste
taste (stative) = has a certain taste
This soup tastes great.
The coffee tastes really bitter.

taste (dynamic) = the action of tasting.


The chef is tasting the soup.
~The same with the verb smell

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