Verb Tenses

While it is possible to spend time working out how English speakers got from the primary meaning of a verb form to its secondary meanings, such a process isn’t usually necessary for teaching the different meanings, and it remains a consideration of theoretical grammar rather than of pedagogical grammar.  Nevertheless, there is one area that usually warrants more attention: the absence of progressive aspect for stative verbs.

Stative verbs are verbs that refer to a state of being that the subject is in rather than to an activity that they engage in.  The linking verbs (be, seem, smell, taste, etc) are generally stative verbs, but certain action verbs also refer to an emotion (love, like, hate) that might best be considered a state, or to certain relationships, like ownership (own have, belong), that might better be seen as a state.  In fact, these perspectives on these action verbs is ensconced in English via the awkward, if not outright ungrammatical, nature of using the progressive aspect with these verbs.

Activity 6.4: Understanding Stative Verbs

Read each sentence and circle the verb tense that you would most naturally use to complete the sentence.

Click on the correct form of the verb to circle it. Click on check button to assess your answer; incorrect choices will be reset. On multiple verb sentences, correctly selected verbs will remain circled.

The rule on nonprogressive use of these verbs is not an absolute restriction, and certain ones are more likely to be used in the progressive, even with the usual nonprogressive meaning.  For example, McDonald’s is currently using the slogan, “I’m loving it,” using the progressive for a typically nonprogressive verb.  However, other times the progressive never seems appropriate, such as “I’m having a car.”

What makes these verbs “stative” is that they refer to a state of being rather than an activity.  For some the meaning is literally a state or a relationship; be, own, belong are these types of verbs.

Other verbs refer to emotions that tend to remain stable over time.  Generally, if one likes or dislikes a person or a thing, that emotion persists quite generally, so the word is unlikely to be used in the progressive.  Love, hate, and envy among others tend to be this type of verb.  These verbs are more likely to show up in the progressive since the emotion referred to, while it generally persists over time, doesn’t necessarily remain static, and a sudden, temporary burst of emotion can occur, and it is in these cases the progressive can be employed.  McDonald’s slogan is used because the progressive form highlights the immediateness of the emotion’s presence, making it less persistent over time, but very present.
Still other stative verbs have dual meanings, one of which is stative and the other, which is not.  The stative meaning doesn’t take the progressive because if given the progressive, listeners will interpret it via the other meaning.  Have is of this type.  Stative have refers to the ownership relationship, but nonprogressive have can mean eat, experience, or give birth.  To say I’m having a red car conjures up either a person eating a red car for lunch, or a woman giving birth to a red car.  The distinction between stative have and nonstative have maintains the distinction in meaning between I have a child, which means the speaker is in a parental relationship to a child, and I’m having a child, which means the speaker is talking about the action of giving birth to the child.

Tenses Page 4