Action verb & State verbs | English Grammar Lesson | B1-Intermediate

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Hello and welcome everyone! Thank you for joining  me for this presentation on Action verbs and State  

verbs. So, I'd now like to share my screen with  you to look at these questions. They were from  

Lisa and Susan. Lisa asked: 'What's correct:  'I'm feeling sleepy' or 'I feel sleepy'? So,  

Continuous tense or Simple tense? And, Susan  asked: Does 'I haven't felt well recently.' mean  

'I'm still unwell.'? So, the questions are about  the verb 'feel' but touch on this tricky topic of:  

'Is 'feel' an Action verb or a State verb?  Can we put it in a Continuous tense or not?  

That's the basic question. So, we're going to  review Action verbs and State verbs together,  

starting with what they are obviously. So, there  are two types of verbs in English: Action and  

State. 95% of verbs describe an action: eat, chat,  read, send. And if you think about these actions,  

the action can stop and start again easily. I can  be eating, I can stop, and then I can start to  

eat again. And fewer number of verbs, only about  5% of them describe a mental or emotional state,  

for example: like, know, belong, exist. And these  states are usually a bit more permanent. You can't  

just ... They can't stop and start again easily,  and they're called State or Stative verbs. So,  

that's the definition of the two types of verbs.  Now, let's look at what is special about State  

verbs. State verbs can't take Continuous tenses.  So for example, if you're eating a dessert,  

you can't say - although both things are  happening at the same time - you can't say:  

I am liking this dessert. I'm eating: no problem:  Present Continuous because it's an action. But,  

you can't say: I'm liking it. You have to change  the Present Continuous to its Simple equivalent:  

I like this dessert I'm eating. So, that's for  present Simple - Present Continuous. Another  

tense: Present Perfect: You can't say: These two  people, they have been knowing each other for less  

than a week. The 'have been knowing' (Present  Perfect Continuous) changes to its Simple form:  

They have known each other for less than a week.  But, then if we have the action verb 'chat',  

of course you would put it in the Present Perfect  Continuous tense: They have been chatting for over  

2 hours. So, these state verbs cannot go into a  Continuous form. So, where do we go from here?  

We go to the little problem that some verbs, not  many, just a few verbs, are both Action and State,  

and I have divided these verbs into three groups:  The first group is what we call 'sense verbs',  

like taste, smell, and look. These verbs can  designate an action if you're experiencing  

something or a state if you're describing  something. For example, if you have a glass of  

wine and you're drinking it, you can say: We are  tasting the wine. It's an action in progress. Or,  

someone who is looking at some options, it's  an action. He can start and stop looking at  

the options. So, you would say: He was looking at  all the options. But when the same verbs describe  

something, now they are State verbs, and we cannot  put them in the Continuous tense. For example,  

you would say: We are tasting the wine and  the wine - we can't use the Continuous form:  

'is tasting nice' changes to the Simple form: The  wine tastes nice. Or: All the options - not 'were  

looking expensive' but 'looked expensive'. So,  these are the first, this is the first group:  

Sense verbs. Let's look at the second group. These  are some verbs that have two different meanings,  

and I think I've chosen five important ones for  you. So, let's look at them one by one: The first  

one is the verb 'to be'. Now to be is 99% of the  time a State verb when you describe something, but  

very occasionally, it is a synonym for the Action  verb 'behave'. So, if you say to someone or if  

you hear: Why are you being so difficult today?  (the state verb 'be' with the Continuous tense),  

it's because we're using it as a synonym for  'behave'. We want to say: Why are you behaving  

in such a difficult manner today? But of course,  if the answer is 'Oh, I'm sorry! I'm exhausted.'  

we now cannot use 'I am being sorry' although it's  for this moment, or 'I am being exhausted'. So:  

Why are you being so difficult? > Action. 'I am  sorry. I am exhausted.' > State. So that's the  

first verb. The second verb in this category with  two different meanings is 'have'. You know that  

'have' means 'own' or 'possess'. That's its main  meaning, but sometimes, we use it to replace verbs  

like: eat, drink, or experience. So, it changes  its meaning to an Action verb. For example,  

in the examples I've written: Is she having a good  time? Is she experiencing a good time? Present  

Continuous: at the moment. But if your answer is:  'I have no idea.', now we're using the verb 'have'  

as a state verb, so we can't say: I'm having  no idea. You know it sounds really strange,  

so you know naturally, reflexively, that it's 'I  have no idea.' But, that explains why sometimes  

you see this verb in the Continuous tense and most  of the time you don't. The next important verb in  

this group is 'think'. Again if you think about  it, it has two different ideas: one is 'reflect',  

'consider'. It's an action. You can think about  something and then stop thinking about it. But the  

other one is the state, meaning 'having an idea,  an opinion', a synonym for 'I believe'. So, my  

examples are: You can ask someone: Have you been  thinking about a topic? Have you been reflecting,  

considering? And the answer would be: Yes, I  think I'll speak about dolphins.' for example. So,  

you see the two different ideas, meanings of the  verb 'think' here. So, these three are the most  

common ones that you have to be very aware of:  be, have, and think. But, I thought of two other  

ones that could lead to confusion, so I thought  I'd mention them to you. Well, actually three.  

Two of them are here: the verbs 'mean' and 'want'.  Obviously, let's look at the state mean meanings,  

which are the common meanings. 'mean is to  'signify': What does this word mean? And, 'want'  

is to 'desire' when you want something. But,  these two verbs are also used very occasionally  

as synonyms for 'intend', and then, they become  Action verbs, rarely, but you would, you might  

have already heard: I've been meaning or I've been  wanting to ask you for a refund. We are using them  

with their 'intend' meaning in the Continuous  form. Now, if we go to the State meaning of these  

verbs, we can no longer use the Continuous form.  So, we can't say: What are you meaning? No. It's  

always: What do you mean? Or: You're wanting a  refund? We can't say that. It's: What do you mean  

you want a refund? So, Simple forms because  now they have a state meaning. And the last  

one that came to my mind was the verb 'love', from  the famous McDonald's thing saying: I'm loving  

it. That's why it came to me. A student had asked  that question: Why is it 'I'm loving it.'? Because  

'love' can also be used as an Action verb, meaning  to 'enjoy' whereas of course its usual State  

meaning is to 'like very much'. So for example,  if the sun is shining today, and you're sitting in  

the sun, you can say: Oh my God, I'm loving this  sunshine today. But if you want to say how you  

feel about something in general, you would, you  cannot say: Oh yes I'm loving sunny days. It's a  

state, it's an emotional state, and you can't say  that. You have to change it to the Simple form:  

I love sunny days. So, these are groups 1 and  2, relatively easy to get the idea. Now let's  

look at group 3, slightly trickier, the final  group, and that is verbs with the same meaning but  

with different emphasis. And, the three important  ones are: live, work, and the final one: feel. So,  

look at the verb 'live'. When we use this verb, it  could refer to a short-term temporary situation,  

in which case it becomes closer or more  similar to an action, like let's say your  

house is being decorated, and currently, at  the moment, you're living with your sister,  

so it's a temporary situation. Therefore, we would  probably say: I've been living with my sister - in  

the short term - for a month. The idea is that  it it will soon change. It's temporary, whereas  

when this verb 'live' refers to a long-term fact,  it becomes a lot more similar to a state, like:  

I have lived in this town all my life. I mean  you could say: 'I have been living in this town  

all my life.' It's not wrong, but it's like, a bit  unnecessary. So, live. 'work' is exactly the same.  

If it's a short-term temporary situation, it gets  closer to an action, like working on a project or  

working, for example I have here, on these slides:  She has been working on these slides for a week,  

and she continues to do so. But, if it's  now becoming more of a fact of your life,  

or her life, then it's more likely that we want to  use it as a State verb, like: She has worked for  

this farm for 11 years. Right? It's not something  that can change straight away tomorrow. And that  

brings us to the verb that started the questions  from Susan and Lisa, and that's the verb 'feel'.  

Again the same thing: You can think of it as a  short temporary situation, similar to an action,  

your feeling can change suddenly, quickly. For  example, you could say: I'm feeling hungry. I'm  

going to have my sandwich now. That eating of your  sandwich will change the feeling, it's temporary,  

whereas it could also be a long-term fact  similar to a state, maybe you have a cat,  

your neighbour has a cat, the neighbours don't  treat him well, and you always feel sorry for this  

cat. So, these are the three verbs that can lead  to confusion. So, let's now go to the questions.  

Let's see how these questions are answered  in view of what we have just looked at. So,  

Lisa asked: What's correct: 'I'm feeling sleepy.'  or 'I feel sleepy.'? Well, as we've just seen,  

they're both correct. If you use the Continuous  tense: I'm feeling sleepy, then it's something  

that you think can change very quickly: I think  I'll go to bed now. But if you say something like:  

'I feel sleepy.', it's as if this state is going  to stay with you longer. Maybe you're at work,  

you've just had lunch, and you think: Oh now  I feel sleepy. It will be hard to concentrate  

this afternoon. It's very very similar, very  difficult to really distinguish which is which,  

which is why native speakers usually just use  them interchangeably without thinking about  

this very subtle distinction. So, let's look  at the second question. It was from Susan. So,  

what about 'I haven't felt well recently.' Does  that mean I'm still unwell? Or 'I have felt',  

which is usually a finished action, and now I'm  okay. Tricky! Again, listening to native speakers  

around me using these tenses, usually when they  even say 'I haven't felt well recently.' they're  

using it as a State verb with the sense that the  state has been there for some time and may not  

change quickly. So, they're still feeling unwell.  That's the idea that they're trying to give you,  

not that they have felt unwell, and now they're  okay. But, you can also say, and it's probably  

better to say 'I haven't been feeling well  recently', because this gives more a sense of a  

short-term situation, but well hopefully, you can  soon feel better. The situation may change soon.  

It's temporary. It's always that distinction  between temporary, now, can change soon,  

or long-term fact that's more likely to continue  as it is. Right! Okay, I think that's it. I I'm  

just going to finish with a quick summary because  I know there's been a lot of information. So,  

usually it's very clear if a verb is Action, like  eat and chat - you can start and stop - or State,  

like 'like'. You like something, you like it. You  can't suddenly 'unlike' it, or you know something,  

you know it. You can't suddenly 'unknow' it, and  then know it again. I think that's quite easy to  

distinguish. And, we've looked at the main ones  that can be both: reminding you: sense verbs:  

taste, smell, and look. And the second  category was verbs with two different meanings,  

and I had chosen these five for you, which are the  most common. There may be one or two other ones,  

but you won't come across them probably.  So: be, have, think, want, and mean. The  

tricky one was the third group: verbs with the  same meaning but different emphasis on action or  

state, and the three we discussed were: live,  work, and feel. These three cause confusion,  

especially with the Present Perfect tense, where  the Simple and Continuous forms finally mean the  

same thing. Someone says: I've been living here  for a year. They're treating the verb 'live' as  

an action, so they're putting it in the Continuous  form. Someone else may think of it as a state,  

a long-term situation, and treat it as a State  verb and say: I have lived here for a year. They  

mean exactly the same thing, and it's important  to remember this so you don't misunderstand the  

second speaker, the one who said 'I've lived  here for a year.' because usually, if we use  

'I have done' with an Action verb, it means it's  over, it's finished. Right, that's the end of the  

presentation. I hope it has clarified to a great  extent the difference between Action and State  

verbs and helped you a little bit towards using  them correctly. I hope you've enjoyed this lesson.  

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