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Nonaction Verbs List

Emotions:  admire, care, dislike, doubt, envy, fear, hate, hope, like, love

Mental States:  think, understand, know, believe, guess, hope, mean

Wants/Preferences:  want, wish, need, prefer, desire

Possession:  own, have, contain, belong

Appearance:  look, appear, seem

Value:  cost, equal, signify

Perception:  feel, hear, see, smell, taste, sound, look, notice

State of being:  be, exist

http://cisl.edu/wordpress/uncategorized/action-vs-non-action-english-verbs.htm

Non-Action Verbs

Non-action verbs (also called “stative verbs”) are the opposite. These verbs are for things which are not active, like the following:

need

seem

believe belong disagreedoubt

hate

know

have

own

want

like

These verbs are usually things we feel, mental states, or verbs of ownership (as we see with the verbs “have” or “own”).

The Differences in Use of Action and Non-Action Verbs

How do we use these two types of verbs? There is a simple rule students must follow to remember how to use them correctly:

Do not use non-action (stative) verbs with the progressive (-ing) tenses.

Remember, progressive tenses (also called “continuous” tenses) are the “be” verb + “-ing” tenses, like the following:

Present Progressive 

[am/is/are + verb + ing]

I am learning Chinese. 

She is cooking dinner. 

They are playing soccer. 

Past Progressive

[was/were + verb + ing]

I was sleeping earlier today. 

He was talking on the phone. 

She was driving very fast!

Future Progressive 1

[is/am/are + going to + be + ing]

I am going to be leaving at 10. 

She is going to be studying in San Francisco. 

They are going to be taking the TOEFL test in two weeks. 

Future Progressive 2

[will + be + ing]

I will be living in San Diego for the next six months. 

He will be working in a new office very soon. 

We will be studying action and non-action verbs all month. 

With each of these tenses, you cannot use the non-active verbs. This is a common...