[Grammar] Is "survive" a stative or a dynamic verb?

[Goinggreen]

My course book says that "to survive" is a stative verb, but I do not understand why it is stative. I guess it can be both stative and dynamic (like "to see", "to smell" and some other verbs), but can anybody give me some examples?

 

[emsr2d2]

Did he die in the fire?
No. He survived.

How was your holiday?
It was OK. I survived the rigours of lying on the beach for eight hours a day!

How's the new job?
I'm surviving.

Do those help?

 

[Goinggreen]

Did he die in the fire?
No. He survived.

How was your holiday?
It was OK. I survived the rigours of lying on the beach for eight hours a day!

How's the new job?
I'm surviving.

Do those help?

Thanks. Now I see that "survive" can be used in Continuous tenses. But the question remains: can "surivive" be a stative verb? Can you give me an example of "survive" used in non-continuous tenses with such time expressions as now and at the moment or when we are talking about temporary situations or states (when a continuous tense should be used)?
For example, in "I hear music coming from the Smith’s apartment", "hear" is a stative verb that cannot be used in the Present Continuous tense.

 

[engee30]

I wish I could advise you, Goinggreen, to drop the idea of stative and non-stative verbs and to focus on the very meaning of the sentences, in which case verbs can be used either statively or non-statively, depending on the context.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Thanks. Now I see that "survive" can be used in Continuous tenses. But the question remains: can "surivive" be a stative verb? Can you give me an example of "survive" used in non-continuous tenses with such time expressions as now and at the moment or when we are talking about temporary situations or states (when a continuous tense should be used)?
For example, in "I hear music coming from the Smith’s apartment", "hear" is a stative verb that cannot be used in the Present Continuous tense.

One can use "hear" in the present continuous. "I am hearing music..."

 

[Tdol]

But the question remains: can "survive" be a stative verb?

If the verb refers to a specific risk (accident, etc), then it would appear to be dynamic, but if it is a general state of not dying or going under, then it could be stative.

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER


Hello, Goinggreen:

I cannot find any sentences that label "survive" as either stative or dynamic.

But I did find some sentences with "taste." Perhaps if you study these sentences carefully, they might give you an idea when the meaning of "survive" is stative, and when the meaning is dynamic.

The scholar says that stative verbs refer to a state of affairs and that dynamic verbs refer to a happening.

Here are his four sentences:

1. "[H]e could taste warm blood in his mouth from the lip he had just bitten."
2. "The hamburgers taste good."
3. "Taste the salt."
4. "Do you want to taste the soup?"

He says that #1 and 2 are stative and that #3 and 4 are dynamic.

I am ashamed to tell you that I could not correctly identify them.


Source: Sidney Greenbaum, The Oxford English Grammar (1996), page 74.

P.S. If you find some sentences that label "survive" as either stative or dynamic, please share them with us.

 

[Tarheel]

I think 1 is more like 3 and 4 than it is 2. Perhaps for 1 we could say:

The strawberry shortcake tasted sweet.

 

[GoesStation]

I had never heard of stative and dynamic verbs until I saw those terms in this thread. Native Anglophones don't need the concept because we automatically know when we can and can't use continuous tenses.

Ravi Shankar would have avoided writing somewhat awkward lyrics in "I Am Missing You" if he had mastered this topic.

 

[emsr2d2]

I agree that native English speakers generally just know when we can use the continuous and when we can't. However, I don't agree that there is anything wrong with "I am missing you". We would probably use "I miss you" more frequently but if we're talking about an ongoing situation/feeling, then the continuous is usable. The list of verbs that can't be used in the continuous is very short.

I Googled "non-continuous" verbs and found at least two websites which say (for example) that "be" and "imagine" are stative verbs which aren't used in the continuous. I disagree entirely.

Your son is being very naughty at the moment.
I am imagining a sandy beach, bright sunshine and a large pina colada.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I agree completely.

 

[Rover_KE]

So do I, but decided that clicking 'Like' was sufficient to register my agreement.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I find "like" to be sufficient only for mild agreement.

 

[Raymott]

I find "like" to be sufficient only for mild agreement.

I disagree. I find posts saying "I agree" to be as pointless and time-wasting as posts saying 'Thanks' - especially if you have nothing useful to add.

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER




I was confused as to why the verb is "stative" in "He could taste blood in his mouth from the lip he had just bitten."
I then learned something that teachers already know, but many of us ordinary students of English do not know. Let me quote this source:

"Generally speaking, active [dynamic] verbs may be regarded as voluntary, and stative verbs as involuntary, inasmuch as actions are usually the result of volition ["I will"], while states and changes of state are usually independent of the will."

-- Journal of the American Oriental Society (1903). Courtesy of Google "books." Many more recent sources also cite this idea of voluntary vs. involuntary.

 

[emsr2d2]

Learners (and some teachers) need to remember that most native English speakers have never even heard the terms "stative/dynamic verbs", let alone know the definition or usage.

 

[GoesStation]

Learners (and some teachers) need to remember that most native English speakers have never even heard the terms "stative/dynamic verbs", let alone know the definition or usage.

We don't need to know the terms because we know automatically when to use continuous tenses. Misusing these tenses is a very common error for English learners, so they need tools to help them know when to use them.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm not disputing the reasons for learners needing to have a way to work out what to say/write but I wonder if sometimes they are surprised by a lack of responses to such questions from native speakers.