Thanksgiving and English Grammar
2022-11-24
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1Every year around the Thanksgiving holiday, a strange ceremony happens in Washington, DC.
2The president stands outside the White House, gives a brief speech and then officially pardons a turkey.
3A pardon is a declaration that someone will not be punished.
4You might be asking yourself, "What is the connection between turkeys, Thanksgiving and grammar?"
5In today's report, we explore what turkeys can teach you about English verbs.
6In particular, we will show you how Thanksgiving can teach you to use stative verbs.
7We will also show you the difference between stative and progressive verbs.
8The term stative verb refers to a verb that has a stative meaning.
9In other words, these verbs show or describe conditions or situations that do not do anything but exist.
10Verbs that commonly have a stative meaning include:
11-verbs that show emotional states, such as love and dislike;
12-verbs that describe sense perceptions, such as smell or taste;
13-verbs that show existence, such as seem or look.
14In the present tense, a verb with a stative meaning is generally used in its simple form.
15"I love turkey," or "Americans like turkey" are two examples.
16Verbs that have stative meanings are generally not used in the progressive tense.
17So, you will probably not hear a native speaker say, "I am loving turkey," or "Americans are liking turkey."
18Do not fear: we can use our Thanksgiving example to make the point clearer.
19Imagine you are at an American store.
20You hear a conversation between a customer and a store employee.
21The customer wants to buy a turkey that weighs 10 pounds, or 4.5 kilograms.
22Unlike the turkey from the pardoning ceremony, this turkey will have a sad fate: the dinner table.
23The conversation you hear might go like this:
24Customer: How much does that turkey weigh?
25Butcher: It weighs 10 pounds.
26Customer: How much does it cost?
27Butcher: It costs 20 dollars.
28In the dialogue, you can hear two examples of stative verbs: weigh and cost.
29The butcher said, "The turkey weighs 10 pounds," and "The turkey costs 20 dollars."
30In both cases, the verbs have a stative meaning: The butcher is describing a condition or situation that simply exists - the weight and cost of the turkey.
31Now imagine you are eating Thanksgiving dinner with an American family.
32You might hear any one of the following sentences:
33"I love turkey!"
34"I dislike turkey."
35"The turkey smells wonderful!"
36"The food tastes great!"
37"The turkey seems undercooked."
38"The turkey looks awful."
39All these sentences include stative verbs.
40You might notice that the verbs are also in the simple present form.
41So, why would an English speaker not say, "The turkey is seeming undercooked," or, "I am disliking turkey?"
42Susan Conrad and Douglas Biber are two English grammar experts.
43They say that, in general, English speakers use the progressive tense only when the subject of the verb actively controls the state or action.
44In addition, English speakers generally use the progressive only when the verb describes an action or state that happens over an extended period of time.
45So, you would not hear an English speaker say, "The turkey is seeming undercooked" because the subject of the verb, the turkey, does not control its state - being undercooked.
46For the same reason, you would not hear an English speaker say, "I am disliking turkey," because the verb's subject, I, probably does not have control over the action of disliking turkey.
47Now, some verbs can have stative and progressive meanings.
48Consider these examples:
49"The food tastes good."
50"The president is tasting the food."
51In the first sentence, the food does not control whether it is good or bad.
52As a result, the verb taste has a stative meaning because it simply describes the condition of the food.
53In the second sentence, "The president is tasting the food," the subject of the verb, the president, has control over his action.
54In addition, the action takes place over an extended period of time: the president must think about tasting food, then raise the food to his mouth, then consider its quality.
55So, you could say that the verb taste in this example has a progressive meaning.
56The next time you are reading or listening to the news, pay special attention to the verbs.
57Notice when the progressive form is used, and when the simple form is used.
58Then ask yourself why.
59Does the verb's subject control the action?
60Does the action occur over an extended period of time?
61Or does the verb simply describe a condition that exists?
62If you are still confused about whether you should use a simple or progressive verb in your own conversations, Conrad and Biber have one tip that might help you.
63They say that in conversations, English speakers use simple verbs around 120 times in every 1,000 words.
64Progressive verbs are much less common: they appear fewer than 20 times in every 1,000 words.*
65I'm Alice Bryant.
66And I'm John Russell.
1Every year around the Thanksgiving holiday, a strange ceremony happens in Washington, DC. The president stands outside the White House, gives a brief speech and then officially pardons a turkey. 2A pardon is a declaration that someone will not be punished. 3You might be asking yourself, "What is the connection between turkeys, Thanksgiving and grammar?" 4In today's report, we explore what turkeys can teach you about English verbs. 5In particular, we will show you how Thanksgiving can teach you to use stative verbs. We will also show you the difference between stative and progressive verbs. 6What is a stative verb? 7The term stative verb refers to a verb that has a stative meaning. In other words, these verbs show or describe conditions or situations that do not do anything but exist. 8Verbs that commonly have a stative meaning include: 9-verbs that show emotional states, such as love and dislike; 10-verbs that describe sense perceptions, such as smell or taste; 11-verbs that show existence, such as seem or look. 12In the present tense, a verb with a stative meaning is generally used in its simple form. "I love turkey," or "Americans like turkey" are two examples. 13Verbs that have stative meanings are generally not used in the progressive tense. So, you will probably not hear a native speaker say, "I am loving turkey," or "Americans are liking turkey." 14Thanksgiving and stative verbs 15Do not fear: we can use our Thanksgiving example to make the point clearer. 16Imagine you are at an American store. You hear a conversation between a customer and a store employee. The customer wants to buy a turkey that weighs 10 pounds, or 4.5 kilograms. 17Unlike the turkey from the pardoning ceremony, this turkey will have a sad fate: the dinner table. 18The conversation you hear might go like this: 19Customer: How much does that turkey weigh? 20Butcher: It weighs 10 pounds. 21Customer: How much does it cost? 22Butcher: It costs 20 dollars. 23In the dialogue, you can hear two examples of stative verbs: weigh and cost. 24The butcher said, "The turkey weighs 10 pounds," and "The turkey costs 20 dollars." In both cases, the verbs have a stative meaning: The butcher is describing a condition or situation that simply exists - the weight and cost of the turkey. 25Now imagine you are eating Thanksgiving dinner with an American family. You might hear any one of the following sentences: 26"I love turkey!" 27"I dislike turkey." 28"The turkey smells wonderful!" 29"The food tastes great!" 30"The turkey seems undercooked." 31"The turkey looks awful." 32All these sentences include stative verbs. You might notice that the verbs are also in the simple present form. 33Why not use a progressive verb? 34So, why would an English speaker not say, "The turkey is seeming undercooked," or, "I am disliking turkey?" 35Susan Conrad and Douglas Biber are two English grammar experts. They say that, in general, English speakers use the progressive tense only when the subject of the verb actively controls the state or action. 36In addition, English speakers generally use the progressive only when the verb describes an action or state that happens over an extended period of time. 37So, you would not hear an English speaker say, "The turkey is seeming undercooked" because the subject of the verb, the turkey, does not control its state - being undercooked. 38For the same reason, you would not hear an English speaker say, "I am disliking turkey," because the verb's subject, I, probably does not have control over the action of disliking turkey. 39Now, some verbs can have stative and progressive meanings. 40Consider these examples: 41"The food tastes good." 42"The president is tasting the food." 43In the first sentence, the food does not control whether it is good or bad. As a result, the verb taste has a stative meaning because it simply describes the condition of the food. 44In the second sentence, "The president is tasting the food," the subject of the verb, the president, has control over his action. 45In addition, the action takes place over an extended period of time: the president must think about tasting food, then raise the food to his mouth, then consider its quality. So, you could say that the verb taste in this example has a progressive meaning. 46What can you do? 47The next time you are reading or listening to the news, pay special attention to the verbs. 48Notice when the progressive form is used, and when the simple form is used. Then ask yourself why. Does the verb's subject control the action? Does the action occur over an extended period of time? Or does the verb simply describe a condition that exists? 49If you are still confused about whether you should use a simple or progressive verb in your own conversations, Conrad and Biber have one tip that might help you. 50They say that in conversations, English speakers use simple verbs around 120 times in every 1,000 words. 51Progressive verbs are much less common: they appear fewer than 20 times in every 1,000 words.* 52I'm Alice Bryant. 53And I'm John Russell. 54John Russell wrote this story for Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section. 55* See Conrad, Susan and Biber, Douglas. Real Grammar: A Corpus-Based Approach to English. Pearson-Longman. 2009. Pgs. 4-6 56____________________________________________________________ 57Words in This Story 58stative - adj. expressing a state, condition, or relation 59progressive - adj. of or relating to the progressive tense of a verb 60dislike - v. to not like (something or someone) 61undercooked - adj. not cooked enough