tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167585665865020265.post4637343622148118033..comments2024-03-14T16:19:49.359+01:00Comments on Random Idea English: Random thoughts - he was sat, she was stoodWarsaw Willhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15373568589613033674noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167585665865020265.post-85934177036889461712023-02-04T05:16:06.356+01:002023-02-04T05:16:06.356+01:00thanksthanksMr Nathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10741603574839587130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167585665865020265.post-4191922487152559062017-12-20T10:51:06.429+01:002017-12-20T10:51:06.429+01:00I always direct my proficiency students to your we...I always direct my proficiency students to your website - it gives them plenty of fodder to chew their way through.<br /><br />Moirahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15606080217761446508noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167585665865020265.post-43570990370701609922013-11-17T17:32:32.301+01:002013-11-17T17:32:32.301+01:00Thanks for the kind remarks, Peter. It's an in...Thanks for the kind remarks, Peter. It's an interesting point you make about the ambiguous active / stative nature of the verbs, perhaps illustrated by this sentence from Jane Eyre:<br /><br />'Next day I was up and dressed, and sat wrapped in a shawl by the nursery hearth'<br /><br />At first I thought this was an example of 'was sat' - was up, dressed and sat - but then I realised that, no, she was using past simple. But is she really talking about her action of sitting down, or is it more like 'I was sitting'?<br /><br />You make a good point about 'live', to which I would add 'work'. Usually an action verb - 'I'm working late tonight' - it can also be a state verb. We can't say, for example, say - 'I used to live in Manchester and would work at the local council for several years', although we can say 'very often I would work late'.Warsaw Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15373568589613033674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4167585665865020265.post-74578023649541435452013-11-17T15:58:33.054+01:002013-11-17T15:58:33.054+01:00Congratulations once again on the painstaking rese...Congratulations once again on the painstaking research. In connection with your idea about participles used as adjectives I suggest further that the nature of the verbs has something to do with it. They are exceptional in that the continuous aspect describes a state rather than an action. <i>I was sitting</i> <b>could</b> mean that I was in the process of lowering myself onto a seat, but it is far more likely to mean that I was in a sitting position; similarly with <i>I was standing</i>. So, by analogy with <i>I was there</i> for example, people seek a monosyllable that does not imply an action. Interestingly, there is ambiguity with <i>live</i>, where both continuous and simple forms are used for what is a state rather than (usually) an action. Normally of course, stative verbs do not have a continuous form.Peter Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10126952453582220381noreply@blogger.com