Grammar Talks 2-09 | Beginner | Stative Verbs

What looks good? What tastes goods?

Two people talk about things they like using stative verbs.
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Todd: Hey, Darcy. Let’s talk about stative verbs.

Darcy: Okay.

Todd: So I will ask you five questions or questions about stative verbs and you answer them.

Darcy: Sure.

Todd: Okay. First, what smells good?

Darcy: Sweet things smell good.

Todd: Yes, that’s true. I think fresh coffee smells good. I love fresh coffee.

Darcy: I hate the smell of fresh coffee.

Todd: Oh, really? It doesn’t smell good for you?

Darcy: No, it’s so like bitter.

Todd: Oh, really? Oh, wow. I think it smells so good. You don’t think it smells good.

Darcy: No. I think hot chocolate smells good.

Todd: Okay. Okay, there we go. Alright. So next, what feels good?

Darcy: A hot bath feels good.

Todd: That’s true. A hot bath feels really good. I think a warm sweater on a cold day feels really good. Like right after the sweater comes from the dryer, it feels really nice.

Darcy: Yes, I love that warm feeling you get when it comes out.

Todd: It’s so nice. Also, puppies. Puppies feel really nice, right, when you pet puppies?

Darcy: Yeah, I like the fluffy ones. They feel really nice.

Todd: They do. They feel really, really nice. Okay. So now, how about taste? What foods taste really good?

Darcy: Um, I think spicy food tastes really good.

Todd: Oh, really?

Darcy: Yes, I love… Like Thai food tastes really good because it can clear your sinuses and it just gives you like a kick on your tongue.

Todd: That’s true. It does taste good. I have a sweet tooth so ice cream tastes really good. I love the taste of ice cream. Also, I love pizza, so pizza tastes good.

Darcy: That’s because cheese taste the best.

Todd: That’s right.

Darcy: Something nice and melty.

Todd: That’s true. How about foods that don’t taste good? What food doesn’t taste good?

Darcy: Natto definitely does not taste good.

Todd: So natto is a Japanese food that’s bitter, right, so it tastes bitter?

Darcy: Yeah.

Todd: That’s true. I think… Actually, pineapple doesn’t taste good.

Darcy: I think pineapple taste great. I mean, it’s nice and sweet, but then the taste kind of burns the back of your mouth eventually.

Todd: A little bit, yeah. I just like it on pizza. Anything on pizza taste good.

Darcy: I love pineapple on pizza. It gives it that sweet flavor.

Todd: True, so true. Okay. So we’ve done tastes, we’ve done smells, uh, feel. Okay. Now how about look? So who looks good? Who looks beautiful? What famous person looks gorgeous?

Darcy: I think anyone that’s over six feet tall looks gorgeous.

Todd: So everybody in the NBA looks gorgeous.

Darcy: Between 6’ and 6’5” looks good.

Todd: Really?! Oh, man. I’m bombed. I’m 5’10”. I’m too short.

Darcy: Just a little. I always notice, like my eyes peels to people that are about six feet tall. I’m like, “Oh, they look nice. They look good.”

Todd: So tall people look good, they look handsome.

Darcy: Yes, I think so.

Todd: How about celebrities? Any celebrities that looks beautiful, over six feet tall?

Darcy: I don’t know how tall they are. They all look tall in the movies.

Todd: Right.

Darcy: Tom Cruise looks handsome but he is not actually that tall.

Todd: No, he’s not six feet.

Darcy: He looks taller in the movies.

Todd: Right. That’s true. All actors look taller in movies. Okay. So then we have one more and that would be, what sounds fun? So when you think of an activity, something you want to try, what looks fun or sounds fun?

Darcy: I think like a big musical festival sounds fun. Like going out to a dance party sounds really fun.

Todd: Oh, that sounds fun. I think bicycle trips sound fun. So you do a bicycle trip across country for maybe one week or two weeks.

Darcy: That sounds not fun. That sounds very tiring and exhausting.

Todd: Oh, really? I think that sounds energizing and exciting, and adventurous and healthy.

Darcy: It sounds like I need to take a nap and take a hot bath to restore myself.

Todd: Well, we definitely have different interests.

Darcy: Yes!

Stative Verbs

Point 1: Stative verbs express feelings and opinions. They are followed by an adjective.
  1. The party sounds fun.
  2. This soup smells delicious.
  3. This test sounds hard.
  4. This pasta tastes great!
  5. She feels sad today!
Point 2: Stative verbs use verbs about the five senses: touch, sight, taste, smell, and sound.
  1. That sounds difficult.
  2. This book looks interesting.
  3. He feels better now.
  4. This pizza tastes terrible.
  5. This milk smells old.
Point 3: Stative verbs are special because the object is an adjective, not a noun or pronoun, like in transitive verbs.
  • (A) Can you make vegetable curry? (Transitive)
  • (B) No, it looks difficult. (Stative)
  • (B) But, I eat it all the time. (Transitive)
  • (A) Yeah, it smells and tastes great. (Stative)
  • (A) I can teach you how to make it. (Transitive)
  • (B) Awesome! That sound fun! (Stative)
Point 4: Stative verbs look and sound often show a prediction for a future opinion about something.
  • This test sounds hard.
  • I think this test will be hard.
  • The movie sounds interesting.
  • I think the movie will be interesting.
  • This soup looks good.
  • I think this soup will be delicious.
Point 5: Stative verbs often can be replaced with a Be verb and keep the same meaning.
  • This record sounds old.
  • This record is old.
  • I feel sick.
  • I am sick.
  • This soup tastes delicious.
  • This soup is delicious.
Answer the following questions about the interview.

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