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 PRACTICE ON POINTS OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR

• Present Summary
• General Truth
• GenTruth Prac
• At the Moment
• Habits & Customs
• Present Progressive
• Scheduled Events
• States of Being
• Sensory States
• Mental States
• Possession States
• Emotion States
• Other States
• Adv of Sequence
• Narration
• Indirect Objects
• Present Context
• Related Pages

Sensory States

Indicating sensations and perceptions

 

 

Sensory-state verbs indicate how we (passively) receive sensations.

• In each case, there is an active form for using our sensory organs: the eyes, nose, ears, finger tips and tongue.
• The active forms have different meanings.

 

Sensory States vs. Active Verbs

SENSORY STATE	ACTIVE VERB
Stative verbs indicate passively received sensations.  They mostly use the nonprogressive verb forms.	Active verbs are activities using the sensory organs.  They take progressive and nonprogressive verb forms.
I hear what you are saying. (followed by a noun, noun phrase or clause)	I'm hearing you. (Informal expression)
I see the picture.  (followed by a noun, noun phrase or clause)	Mario is seeing Lucia. (is visiting/dating)
Your cello sounds good. (followed by an adjective)	The cook is sounding the dinner bell.  (is ringing)
This food tastes spicy.  (followed by an adjective)	The cook is tasting the soup.  (is trying or sampling)
I feel sick.  (followed by an adjective) / Also: I am feeling sick.	I am feeling your forehead to check for a fever. (am touching)

hear (stative) / listen to (active) I am listening to what you are saying.
see (stative) / look at (active)
is feeling – In modern usage, it's common to hear "How are you feeling about living away from home? ", "Is he feeling comfortable with the situation?" in which speakers use the progressive form to emphasize time – adapting to something new..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Common Word Form Mistake

ERROR	FIX
I feel strongly about this issue. (An adjective not an adverb is used after this sensory state.)	I feel strong  about this issue. (Use an adjective with a state-of-being verb.) I have strong feelings about this issue.  (Another option is to rephrase the sentence.) She argued very strongly for the proposal. She was strongly opposed to cutting unemployment benefits.   Use strongly with a verb that is an action not a state-of-being.

  Pop-Q "Strongly"

 

 

 

 

 

Common Mistake

ERROR	FIX
How is your food tasting?   Pop-Q "Liking"	How does your food taste?
This food is tasting too spicy. (The progressive verb form  is not used with this sensory state.)	The food tastes too spicy.

 

 

 

 

 

Practice

Differentiating Active and Passive Sensations

 

 

1. Choose the answer that best completes the sentence. 
2. answer your responses to the answers by clicking the the "show answers" button at the bottom

#	YOUR RESPONSE	Check Answer
1.	"What is that sound?" — " I don't know.   I — am not hearing don't hear anything."
2.	Oh, I hear it now. It's a test. The fire house — sounds is sounding their alarm bell.
3.	Do you — hear listen to the news on the radio?
4.	The announcer — sounds is sounding as if he has a cold."
5.	He did, however, he says he — feels is feeling better today.
6.	He says he — feels is feeling lucky to have his job.
7.	I can't find my keys.  I — feels am feeling   my pockets to see if they are there.
8.	Where's Jack?  He — tastes is tasting the soup to see if it needs salt.
9.	He says the soup — tastes is tasting too salty.
10.	This afternoon, I — see am seeing the doctor about my skin problem.
11.	Do you — see watch television at night?