States of Emotion
Reacting to experiences
Emotional States vs. Activities
| STATIC VERB – EXPERIENCE THE FEELING |
|---|
A static verb is a state. No action is taken. These verbs express how we experience an emotion, and they usually take the nonprogressive verb form. |
Seeing Bill surprised Jill. |
The birthday surprise impresses Jill. |
His thoughtfulness pleases her. |
His creativity amazed us. |
Bill's proposal astonished Jill. |
| DYNAMIC VERB – CAUSE OF THE FEELING |
|---|
A dynamic verb is one in which we take action to do or perform an activity. The action or activity that causew someone to experience an emotion. |
Bill is surprising Jill with flowers. |
Bill is impressing Jill with his birthday surprise. |
He is pleasing her with his thoughtfulness. |
Bill is amazing us with his creativity. |
The magician is astonishing everyone. (ongoing) |
surprise (v.) occur unexpectedly; (n.) – an unexpected usually pleasant action
creativity (n.) – the act of having original, imaginative thought
or expression
Other similar verbs: bewilder, confound, delight, disappoint, satisfied, startle, stupefy, overwhelm
Also see: Part Mod 1 -ed / -ing
Practice
Progressive and Nonprogressive
- Select the response from the list that best completes the sentence.
- Compare your response to the answer by clicking the "check" button.