Verbs whit stative and dynamic uses

 

Function: some verbs are rarely used in progressive form. They are called stative verbs because they usually refer to states or conditions which continue a period of time, for example know, prefer, or agree. However, some state verbs commonly have both stative and dynamic uses, whit different meanings.

Verb	Stative	Dynamic
Be	Verdad o algo en general	Actuar de una manera
Have	Posesión de algo	Experimentara algo en un corto tiempo
See	Actividades frecuentes	Actividades poco frecuentes
Think	Tener una opinión	Resolver una controversia

Stative verbs

Stative verbs have undefined duration. they denote states rather than actions.

Examples of statives are:

want, know, have (when it means possession), think (when it means opinion), like, love, hate, need, prefer, agree, sound, hear disagree, wish, look (when it mean seem), smell, seem, include...

You cannot say:

• I am knowing the truth.
• I am liking pizza.
• It is sounding like a great idea.

But you must say:

• I know the truth.
• I like pizza.
• It sounds like a great idea.

Dynamic verbs – all about doing

By contrast, dynamic verbs can seem a lot simpler, as they’re all about doing some kind of physical activity!

You can see some obvious dynamic verbs in the following examples:

·         “The dog is chasing the squirrel.”

·         “She ran three marathons last year.”

·         “I ate my birthday cake for breakfast.”