Stative Verbs

STATIVE VERBS describe states (conditions that exist); they do not describe activities that are in progress. That’s why they’re not used in any of the progressive tenses.

Compare these examples:

The verb have is also commonly used as progressive verb, with a difference in meaning.

• He has a car. (stative verb)

• He is having a good time. (progressive)

The verb have used as stative verb shows possession while have used as progressive shows an activity of enjoying something.

The verb taste is also commonly used as progressive verb, with a difference in meaning:

• This soup tastes good. (stative verb)

• The chef is tasting the sauce. (progressive)

The verb taste used as stative verb shows sense of perception while taste used as progressive shows an activity of sensing food with your tongue.

In the picture, you’ll see some stative verbs are also commonly used as progressive verbs, with a difference in meaning. Remember, the non-progressive verbs (stative verbs) describe existing states while the progressive verbs describe activity in progress.

• think ⇒ describes mental state

• have ⇒ describes possession

• taste, smell, see ⇒ describe sense perception

• look, appear ⇒ describe other existing state

Now try this exercise. Choose the correct form of the verbs in the brackets:

Robert (get / get/ is getting) nervous whenever he walks into a room. His head feels light and his hands (become / becomes / is becoming) sweaty.  He worries that everyone (look / looks / is looking) at him. Other people notice that Robert (appear / appears / is appeaing) uneasy because he (act / acts / is acting)  so jumpy.

Conversational Deletion

In English grammar, normally every sentence should have a subject, for example “I gotta go now”; however, in spoken English, there’s a tendency to drop the subject Iand you and the auxiliary verb in statement and interrogative sentence. We call this ‘conversational deletion‘.

Examples:

• Gotta go now. (I gotta go now.)

• See you later. (I’ll see you later.)

• Got a minute? (Have you got a minute?)

• Mind if I sit here? (Do you mind if I sit here?)

• See what I mean? (Do you see what I mean?)

• Wanna ride? (Do you want a ride?)

Hope this lesson will help you understand when native speakers speaking and will make you speak English more naturally. Got any questions? Feel free to ask me and leave your comment in the comment box. Did you notice I just used coversational deletion in my sentences?

Hope this lesson … (I hope this lesson …)

Got any questions? (Have you got any questions?)

Assimilation

How do you pronounce “handbag”?

If you pronounce “handbag” as it is, then you’ve been pronouncing it the wrong way.

“Handbag” is pronounced as “hambag” /ˈhæm.bæɡ/. Why? – It’s called assimilation sound. “Assimilation” is the influence of a sound on a neighboring sound so that the two become similar or the same.

More examples:

• good boy ⇒ gubboy /ɡʊb.bɔɪ/

• ten men ⇒ temmen /tem.men/

• bad boy ⇒ babboy /bæb.bɔɪ/

Watch the explanation on assimilation fromPodcastinenglish

How do you pronounce the following phrases?

1. one cup /wʌn kʌp/

2. might go /maɪt ɡəʊ/

3. white bird /waɪt bɜːd/

If you pronounce those phrases as such, well, I’m afraid I have to tell you that’s not quite right.

1. one cup ⇒ /wʌn kʌp/ ⇒ /wʌŋ kʌp/ 

2. might go ⇒ /maɪt ɡəʊ/ ⇒ /maɪk ɡəʊ/

3. white bird ⇒ /waɪt bɜːd/ ⇒ /waɪp bɜːd/

When the letter “n” comes before consonant /k/ and /g/, it becomes /ŋ/, as in one cup /wʌn kʌp/ ⇒ /wʌŋ kʌp/

When the letter “t” comes before /k/ and /g/, the letter “t” becomes /k/, for example, might go /maɪt ɡəʊ/ ⇒/maɪk ɡəʊ/

When the letter “t” comes before consonant /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/, the letter “t” becomes /p/, as in white bird /waɪt bɜːd/ ⇒ /waɪp bɜːd/