ACTIONALITY AND

SITUATION TYPES
Shinta Putri Prihanto
Reni Oktarina
 1. Stative and Dynamic

• A stative verb is one that describes a state, stative verbs usually refer to a
state or condition which is not changing or likely to change.
• Dynamic verbs (sometimes referred to as "action verbs") usually describe
actions we can take, or things that happen;

The difference can be categorized as stative or static verbs or do not change

over the duration, while dynamic verbs describe processes that change over
time.
Example :
Dynamic verbs
There are many types of dynamic verbs, but most of them describe activities
or events which can begin and finish. Here are some examples:

Dynamic Type Examples

Verb
Play Activity She plays tennis every Friday.
She's playing tennis right now.
Melt Process The snow melts every spring.
The snow is melting right now
Hit momentary action When one boxer hits another, brain damage can result.
(This suggests only ONE punch.)
When one boxer is hitting another, brain damage can
result. (This suggests MANY repeated punches.)
 Stative verbs
Stative verbs usually refer to a state or condition which is quite static or
unchanging. They can be divided into verbs of perception or cognition (which
refer to things in the mind), or verbs of relation (which describe the relationships
between things). Here are some examples :

Stative Verb Type Examples

Hate Perception I hate chocolate.

Believe Perception She believes in UFOs.

Contain relation The box contains 24 cans of soda.

Own Relation Yong owns three motorbikes.

Note that we CANNOT use these verbs in the continuous (progressive) forms; you
CAN'T say "Yong is owning three cars." Owning is a state, not an action, so it is
always in the simple form.
 Example verbs
Here some common stative and dynamic verbs. The lists may help you to
understand what types of verbs are likely to be stative and what types are
commonly dynamic.

Stative Verbs love; hate; like; see; hear; sound; think (meaning "have an
opinion"); mind (meaning "care about"); recognize; seem;
have (meaning "own"); prefer; doubt; consist of; mean

Dynamic Verbs eat; drink; go; type; read; write; listen; speak; watch; say;
grow; work; sleep; cook; talk

Dynamic verbs, as you can see from the table above, can be used in the
simple and perfect forms (plays, played, has played, had played) as well as
the continuous or progressive forms (is playing, was playing, has been playing,
had been playing).
 2. Durative and Punctual
Durative verb
The verbs in this class refer to events which have “duration” or verbs that
describe a situation or process that lasts for a period of time.
For example: play, walk, read, sing, rain, rot

Punctual
The verbs refer to situations which are not conceived of as lasting in time or
verbs which refer to events that do not have duration.
For example: hit, catch, arrive, explode
• When a durative verb is put into a progressive tense, the meaning is that an
event is (or was) going on over a period of time.
• The progressive tense of a punctual verb cannot be used with this meaning
because the events referred to by this type of verb do not occupy a period
of time.
• Punctual verbs can be put into the progressive, but in this case the use of this
tense must be interpreted in a special way—not to mean that an event is
“ongoing” but that it is being repeated.)

For example: if we say—Harry is writing to Jill— we are referring to just one

writing event. But if we say — Harry is knocking on Jills door— we are referring
to several knocking events, saying that Harry knocked several times in other
words.
With some other punctual verbs, such as “arrive” or “die” when a progressive
tense is used, the interpretation is that a reference is being made not to arrival
or death but to the approach of one of those punctual events.

For example: Jack phoned Jill, and told her that Harry’s plane was arriving —
means that although Harry’s plane had not yet arrived, it would arrive very
soon.
Telic and Atelic
Howard B. Garey (1957) introduced the distinction between "atelic" and "telic". Atelic
verbs denote processes and facts that are not boundary-related. These also include
the state verbs. Telic verbs, on the other hand, verbalize processes that are boundary-
related. This would imply reaching a goal, an end in processes of knowledge,
experience, or action.

Telic means "having an end." Atelic means "endless." Telic verbs describe actions with
a clear, foreseeable end. Here are sentences with telic verbs.

"She built a house. He drank a cup of coffee. I ran home."

Here are sentences with atelic verbs.

"I breathe. The man exists. He feels funny."
Accomplishments and achievements

Accomplishment means something that has been achieved successfully.

Achievement means a thing done successfully with effort, skill, or courage.

Activity in semantics means really the same thing but they are all explained
differently and they are said and used in different things.
Accomplishment’ and ‘achievement’ are the words that we refer to our feats and
milestones in our lives. Most of the time we use achievement and accomplishment in
the same sense but , there is very thin difference between the two.

• An achievement is a goal that has been reached.

• An accomplishment is a job or project that has been completed.

Example:

• He had covered only 10 miles but each mile had given him a sense of
accomplishment that thrilled him.

• His achievements were acknowledged.

1. What is stative and dynamic ?
2. Write example sentence of stative and dynamic
3. Write example of Durative and Punctual ?
4. Explain the meaning of Telic and Atelic according to Howard B. Garey (1957)
5. What the difference of Accomplishments and achievements ?