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WTF is a stative verb?

Something "stative" is something that doesn't move. It's fixed in one place. Think of a painting of a still life for example. But how can a verb be stative? Basically, stative verbs are the verbs we use to describe the actions that we carry out inside of our brains. They aren't physical actions that others can see, they're what's happening in our head - our thoughts, our opinions, our likes and dislikes...the horrible thing about these secret little verbs is that sometimes they can be both stative and...dynamic...WHAT?!


The verbs of the senses are a good example of this. Take a look at the following sentences:


The pizza smells so good!

vs.

I'm smelling the flowers you bought for me.


The first sentence is an example of a stative verb: the smell of the pizza arrives to me without me taking any action, whereas in the second sentence I'm actively choosing to smell the flowers. Don't worry if you're still confused, take a look at this short PDF on stative verbs to see some examples. Then tell me what you think in the comments!



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