would and used to

[johnnn]

Hello,

It is written in the books that 'we don't use would with stative verbs'. My question iso all the stative verbs like want, smell, hate, love, have, be,...etc contain this?

Thank you... I am really confused about it... :---(

When I was a child, I would hate, want, have, be,....

 

[Route21]

As a NES, but not a teacher, I would really love to know on who's authority such books base their case. I would regularly use "would" with such verbs.
Regards
R21

 

[Tdol]

When would has a similar meaning to used to for past habits, etc, we tend not to use would with stative verbs:

Action:
When I was young I used to watch TV every day. :tick:
When I was young I would watch TV every day. :tick:

State
When I was young I used to live in a small town. :tick:
When I was young I would live in a small town. :cross:

We can use would with stative verb in conditionals, etc.

 

[5jj]

As a NES, but not a teacher, I would really love to know on who's authority such books base their case. I would regularly use "would" with such verbs.

Most people tend not to.

ps typo: [STRIKE]who's[/STRIKE] - whose.

 

[Tdol]

I think Route21 was probably thinking in general- my immediate reaction was to think it wrong, and then I narrowed things down a bit.

 

[Route21]

When I was young I would live in a small town. :cross:

By inference, then:

"When I lived in Liverpool, as a child, I would regularly go down to the Pier Head by tram."

would be incorrect English?

R21 (Confused)

 

[5jj]

By inference, then:

"When I lived in Liverpool, as a child, I would regularly go down to the Pier Head by tram."

would be incorrect English?

No. I don't quite see how you infer this.

 

[johnnn]

Okay sir, but what about this?

-When I was a child I would always love to play with my dolls...

 

[Tdol]

By inference, then:

"When I lived in Liverpool, as a child, I would regularly go down to the Pier Head by tram."

would be incorrect English?

R21 (Confused)

With action verbs you can use would/used to- go is an action, so it's fine to say this.

 

[johnnn]

It was my theread not Routee

Okay sir, but what about this?

-When I was a child I would always love to play with my dolls...

 

[Route21]

By comparison with Tdol's: "When I was young I would live in a small town. :cross:".

Is there a significant difference, grammatically, between Tdol's quote and mine?
Both involve the use of "would" with (what I now understand is) a "stative" verb.

I'm afraid I normally avoid questions on the intricacies of English grammar.

Regards
R21
PS I've just looked up "nonstative" and now believe that "go" is most probably nonstative.

 

[johnnn]

I think my question is incorrect either..


-When I was a child I would always love to play with my dolls...

 

[Route21]

Following on from both my and Johnnn's posts:

On the new understanding that "go" is nonstative and "live" is stative, would the following sentence be incorrect (as it uses "would" with "live")?:

"Whenever I went to London, I would live at/in my cousin's flat (apartment)."

Regards
R21

 

[johnnn]

When I was a child I would always love to play with my dolls...

 

[5jj]

Okay sir, but what about this?

-When I was a child I would always love to play with my dolls...

No. We do not generally use ‘would’ with stative verbs in this sense.

By comparison with Tdol's: "When I was young I would live in a small town. X

Is there a significant difference, grammatically, between Tdol's quote and mine?
Both involve the use of "would" with (what I now understand is) a "stative" verb. No they don’t. […]
PS I've just looked up "nonstative" and now believe that "go" is most probably nonstative.

GO is most definitely used dynamically – i.e., non-statively.

I think my question is incorrect either.
I am not sure which of these you mean:
I don’t think my question is incorrect, either.
OR:
I think my question is incorrect, too.

-When I was a child I would always love to play with my dolls...

As I noted above, We do not generally use ‘would’ with stative verbs in this sense.

Following on from both my and Johnnn's posts:

On the new understanding that "go" is nonstative and "live" is stative, would the following sentence be incorrect (as it uses "would" with "live")?:

"Whenever I went to London, I would live at/in my cousin's flat (apartment)."

This one is possible. Here ‘live’ is not really used statively.

R21, it’s not so much a matter of ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ as what is natural or not. We are not talking abstract grammar here so, as a native speaker, you normally know whether something sounds acceptable.

When I was a child I would always love to play with my dolls...

Please don’t keep repeating the question. Repeating it won’t get it dealt with any more quickly, and it makes the thread unnecessarily long.