2015-08-21
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I'm weighing myself I weigh 65 kilos
I'm tasting the soup It tastes salty
I m feeling the radiator It feels hot
Stative verbs usually occur in the simple form in all tenses. We can think of 'states' in categories like [> App 38]:
1 Feelings: like love, etc.
2 Thinking/believing: think, understand, etc.
3 Wants and preferences: prefer, want, etc.
4 Perception and the senses: hear, see, etc.
5 Being/seeming/having/owning: appear seem belong, own, etc.
Sometimes verbs describing physical sensations can be used in simple or progressive forms with hardly any change of meaning: Ooh! It hurts! = Ooh' It's hurting
The sequence of tenses
Can/can't and could/couldn't often combine with verbs of perception to refer to a particular moment in the present or the past where a progressive form would be impossible [> 11.13]: / can smell gas = I smell gas
9.4 Time references with adverbs [> App 48]
Some adverbs like yesterday and tomorrow refer to past or future: / saw Jim yesterday I'll be seeing Isabel tomorrow
Other adverbs, such as already, always, ever, often, never, now, still,
can be used with a variety of tenses, though they may often be
associated with particular ones. For example, always is often
associated with the simple present or past for habits:
We always have breakfast at 7 30
Roland always took me out to dinner on my birthday
But it can be used with other tenses as well:
/ shall always remember this holiday (future)
Natasha has always been generous, (present perfect)
Mr Biggs said he had always travelled first class (past perfect)
The sequence of tenses
