Grammar-Quizzes › Verb Phrases › Verbs › Present Tense › Sensory States
Present Tense: Sensory States (static verb / stative verb)
Express sensation and perception
Static vs. Dynamic Sensory Verbs
| STATIC VERB — EXPERIENCE SOMETHING | ||
|---|---|---|
A static verb indicates a state of "sensation" or "perception" (hear, see, sound, taste, feel) indicating how we passively experience the world around us. A static verb usually takes the nonprogressive verb form. |
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| SUBJECT | PREDICATE | COMPLEMENT |
| NP | VERB — STATIC | ADJ/ NOUN |
He The weather |
feels (mental state) feels (observation) |
sad. warmer than usual. |
He |
feels (has an effect) |
excited with the news. |
My hands |
feel (have quality of) |
rough. |
She I |
hears heard (sensed with ears, auditorily) |
well. his voice. |
Mario |
sees (sensed with eyes, visually) |
the picture. |
Your cello |
sounds |
good. |
This food |
tastes |
spicy. |
The dog |
smells |
bad. (stinks) |
| DYNAMIC VERB — DO SOMETHING | ||
|---|---|---|
A dynamic verb expresses an activity, an action that we do or perform. It can take a progressive verb form. Note that the meaning of the dynamic verb may differ slightly from the meaning of the static verb. |
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| SUBJECT | PREDICATE | COMPLEMENT |
| NP | VERB — DYNAMIC | NOUN / PP/ THAT CLAUSE |
He |
is feeling (tactile exploration) was feeling |
the surface of the paper. his way down the dark hall. |
He |
was feeling (sense movement) |
the earthquakes. the rocking of the ship. |
He |
feels¹ (thinks) |
that we should modernize.
|
She I |
hears (understand) am hearing (listening carefully, informal) |
you. you. |
Mario |
is seeing (visit, dating) is looking (see with attention) is watching (see with attention to movement or progress) |
Lucia. at Lucia. Lucia. |
The cook |
is sounding (ring) |
the dinner bell. |
The chef Jill |
tastes (sample) is tasting (try) |
the soup. |
A person with a cold |
smells (senses with the nose) |
badly. |
summery — like summer time
Also see Sensory V + Gerund.
¹ feel (V) — think, believe; not used in the progressive; may take an adverb
Feel
Experience a Sensation vs. Taking Action
Feel — static vs. dynamic meanings
| FEEL— STATIC |
|---|
Feel has a number of meanings. The static uses are other ways of saying be. (I am hungry. I am strong. My hands are rough.) If you can substitute the word be, then it is a static use. These "linking verbs" are typically followed by adjectives. |
| FEELING EMOTION – A PHYSICAL, MENTAL OR QUALITY STATE |
I feel hungry / pain / cold / hot. (experience) I feel nervous / anxious / tired / comfortable. I feel good / well / sick / fine / better / worse. |
| FEEL AN EFFECT |
I feel strong / old / energized / fatigued after I exercise. I felt excited to hear the news.
|
| FEEL SMOOTH / DRY — A PHYSICAL QUALITY |
My hands feel rough / dry / soft / stiff / moist. The cat's fur felt soft / smooth. |
| FEEL HURT – EMOTIONAL QUALITY |
She felt hurt by his indifference. He felt insulted when his father called him "boy". |
| PHASAL VERBS / EXPRESSIONS |
I feel for you. (sympathize) We didn't feel up to going to a movie. (be in the mood) Please, feel free to use my phone. (you may) |
| FEEL— DYNAMIC |
|---|
The dynamic uses of feel range from touching (physical activity) to expressing emotion (mental activity). You can use adverbs with dynamic verbs and you can change the transitive verbs to passive voice. (This is not possible with static verbs.) |
| SENSE PHYSICALLY OR EMOTIONALLY |
We intensely felt the earthquake around 2:00 a.m. He keenly feels his daughter's warmth. She strongly felt her the loss of her mother. "death" |
| BELIEVE / THINK |
She feels strongly about this issue. (agree, believe) ~She feels badly about her body image. *I feel about this issue. / *I strongly feel about this issue. |
| TOUCH |
She felt his forehead to see if he had a fever . The doctor didn't feel any broken bones. (find) |
| SEARCH WITH THE FINGERS |
She felt inside her bag for her keys. She felt her way down the hall to the bathroom. |
| PHASAL VERBS / EXPRESSIONS |
We wanted to feel them out before we proposed a deal. (learn their point of view) |
*not used
feel (V, transitive) – not usually progressive, takes an adverb, does not take passive voice Merriam-Webster. "feel" 4.b – believe, think
keenly (Adv) – characterized by strength and distinctness of perception; extremely sensitive or responsive
range (V) – include, vary, go from X to Y, "range from something to something"
sense (V) – perceive something by using the senses; become aware of something
feel badly – "The adverb badly is often used after verbs such as feel, as in I felt badly about the whole affair. This usage bears analogy to the use of other adverbs with feel, such as strongly in We feel strongly about this issue. Some people prefer to maintain a distinction between feel badly and feel bad, restricting the former to emotional distress and using the latter to cover physical ailments; however, this distinction is not universally observed, so feel badly should be used in a context that makes its meaning clear." (American Heritage Dictionary [Usage Note on "bad"]) See Grammar Notes for resource link.
(Burchfield [Fowler] 290) (Garner 349) (Merriam-Webster 435) (Swan 202.6)
Also see Pop-Q "Strongly" and Pop-Q "feel bad / badly"
Taste
A sensation vs. a sampling of flavor
Taste — experience vs. test something for flavor
| TASTE — STATIC |
|---|
The static use of taste expresses how we experience the flavor of something. It mostly occurs in the nonprogressive, but may occur in the progressive to emphasize the experience — at the moment. |
| TASTE + ADJ/ NOUN |
How does the plum taste? It tastes sour. This soup tastes like/of garlic. The food tastes too spicy. |
| RESTAURANT SPEECH (informal usage) |
How does your food taste? (passive sensing) ~ How is your food tasting? (Is the food sensing?) *This food is tasting too spicy. informal / incorrect |
| TASTE — DYNAMIC |
|---|
The dynamic use of taste expresses the activity of investigating the flavor of something. The progressive form expresses the activity of tasting something with the tongue. Adverbs and passive voice can be used. |
| PERCEIVE / DETECT |
I can taste mint in this cookie. Do you taste a little bit of cinnamon? No, but I can almost taste some vanilla. |
| SAMPLE / TAKE A BITE |
Taste the soup and tell me if it needs salt. If you taste this, you will probably like it.
|
* not used / ~ questionably used (often asked by staff (waiters) in restaurants)
(Swan 577) (Huddleston 118)
Also see Pop-Q "Tasting".
Grammar Notes (Advanced)
Traditional and Linguistic Description
Error and Solution
| TRADITIONAL DESCRIPTION – STATIVE VERBS |
|---|
Traditionally, these verbs are called "sensory states", or" stative verbs" or "linking verbs", and they are followed by a noun, an adjective (predicate adjective) or a prepositional phrase. (Azar 441) (Merriam-Webster 437)
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| LINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION – STATIC VERBS |
|---|
Subject: noun, Predicate: verb phrase: verb – adjective
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Word Categories: N – Noun; V – Verb; Aux – Auxiliary; Adj – Adjective; Adv – Adverb; P –Preposition; Det –Determiner.
Phrasal Categories: NP – Noun Phrase; VP – Verb Phrase; AdjP – Adjective Phrase; AdvP – Adverb Phrase; PP – Prepositional Phrase; DP – Determinative Phrase.
Clausal Categories: Cls – clause; F – finite clause; NF – nonfinite clause (Ger – gerund; Inf – infinitive; PPart – past participle).
Word Functions: Subj – subject; Pred – predicate/predicator; Comp – complement: elements required by an expression to complete its meaning (DO – direct object; IO – indirect object); Adjunct – adjunct: elements not required by an expression to complete its meaning (Subord – subordinator; Coord – coordinator); Supl – supplement: a clause or phrase added onto a clause that is not closely related to the central thought or structure of the main clause.
Works Cited
- "bad" American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2015. Web. 27 Nov. 2015. <Link>.
- Azar, Betty Schrampfer, and Stacy A. Hagen. Understanding and Using English Grammar. 4th ed., Pearson Education, 2009.
- Fowler's Modern English Usage. R. W. Burchfield and H. W. Fowler, revised 3rd ed., Oxford UP, 2004.
- Garner's Modern American Usage, Bryan A. Garner, 3rd ed., Oxford UP, 2009.
- Huddleston, Rodney D., and Geoffrey K. Pullum. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge UP, 2002.
- Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage. Reprint ed., Merriam-Webster, 1994.
- Swan, Michael. Practical English Usage. 3rd ed., Oxford UP, 2005.
Practice 1
Activity vs. Sensation
Present or present progressive?
- Select the response from the list that best completes the sentence.
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