Hello grammar exchange community,
I have a question regarding "have" as stative/dynamic verb.
I am wondering if "have" in the following sentence should be in its stative or dynamic form?
He’s a good looking and fun and fun-loving boy and we ------- a great time together.
(1) are having
(2) have
Thank you in advance.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Hi, Meriem,
@Meriem posted:He’s a good looking and fun and fun-loving boy and we ------- a great time together.
(1) are having
(2) have
"Have" is a dynamic verb there, meaning that it refers to an action, being synonymous with "spend" or "experience."
Both (1) and (2) are possible, but (1) refers to a current, and (2) to a habitual experience.
Thank you for your answer.
Hi Meriem,
Do you think the progressive ending -ing along with its absence is an indication of the stative vs. dynamic difference? Actually, the -ing ending is also compatible with certain stative predicates. For example, we could say "John is having to take the bus to work" to describe a temporary state of affairs. (By the way, if native speakers think the sentence is wrong, please tell me. Thanks)
What you have in mind about the -ing ending may be grammatical aspect. On the other hand, distinctions such as dynamic vs. stative, punctual vs. durative, and telic vs. atelic fall in the realm of lexical aspect, or Aktionsart in linguistic parlance.
Hello Raymon,
I agree with your point of view. I've discovered that just after practicing many tasks. It's not always about action/state, but it's also about temporality.
