Wednesday 24 September 2008

VERBS WITH NO CONTINUOUS

State or stative verbs
They hardly ever take the Continuous Form, ( No I am liking , for example) As they describe a state rather than an action the Simple Form ( I like) is always preferred.
They can be grouped in
  • "Appearing "verbs : appear, look ( semblar) , seem
  • "Thinking" verbs : doubt, feel, know, mean, remember,think ( meaning " to have an opinion), understand,expect
  • "Feeling " verbs : dislike, like, hate, love, want,wish, prefer
  • "Sensing" verbs : hear, see, smell, taste , sound.
  • "Owning" verbs : belong, need, owe, own, have ( meaning " to own")
  • " Others ": promise, agree, depend, mean, matter

So, these verbs are not normally used in the continuous, except when they describe a mental or physical action or process :

I am thinking of you all the time ( mental action). He is appearing in a new film ( physical action)

To know more : http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/youmeus/learnit/learnitv120.shtml (good site to understand why some of these verbs do sometimes take the continuous form)

http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/410/grammar/stat.htm

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