THE FLATMATES

Language point:
Stative verbs

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The Flatmates - Language point – Stative verbs

You can see this language point online at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/flatmates/episode04/languagepoint.shtml

Stative (or state) verbs describe states (things that don't change easily or quickly, for
example, what you believe, think or own) rather than actions (jump, talk or buy).
Stative verbs are not normally used in the continuous form (ing).

Stative verbs can be grouped into these categories:

Verbs of emotion:
care feel hate
like loathe love
need prefer want

Verbs of ownership:
own have possess

Verbs of the mind:

believe mean suppose
forget realise understand
know remember doubt

Verbs of the senses – often used with "can":

hear see smell
taste touch

Other verbs:
contain depend matter

Some of these stative verbs can be used in the continuous form but their meaning will
change. For example:

to think:
Do you think so? (Stative - Is that your opinion? Is that the state of your belief?)
He's thinking about his friends in Poland (Dynamic - The action of thinking. His friends
are in his thoughts, in his mind right now, but he might be thinking of something else
soon).

to have:
He has got brown eyes (Stative - He possesses brown eyes. The colour is unlikely to
change).
He's having a pint of beer (Dynamic - The action of drinking. He might be drinking
something else soon).

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to see:
I don't see what you mean. (Stative - I don't understand what you mean).
She is seeing him next week. (Dynamic - She is meeting him).

Vocabulary:
daft (adj, informal):
stupid or silly

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