HELPING STUDENTS UNDERSTAND AND

USE ACTION/STATUS VERB PAIRS

Glen Penrod

Georgetown University

WHAT’S WRONG?

I have bought my car for five months.*

How long have they gotten married?*

*He has met Jane since 2005.*

*I wore my red shirt at 9:00 this morning.*

DIFFERENT WORDS FOR DIFFERENT ASPECTS (COMMON VERB PAIRS)*

ACTION STATUS / SITUATION

meet . . .buy . . .move . . .

get married . . .

arrive . . .return . . .

put on . . .fall asleep . . .

*Adapted from Butler and Yu. 2002.

knowown / havelive

be married

be (here)be (back)

wearbe asleep

HELPING STUDENTS RECOGNIZE ACTION/STATUS DISTINCTIONS WITH ENGLISH VERBS

Using timelines Pictures and cartoon strips Pencil and rubber band trick Actors and actresses Your ideas

TIME LINES

+---------------------------------- meet . . . . know buy . . . have /own

+--------------------------------get married . . . be married

+----------------------+-------------

fall asleep / be asleep; wake up / be awake

WHAT WORDS (VERBS) WOULD YOU USE FOR THE ACTION / SITUATION?

The boy is falling asleep. (action)

PAST: The boy fell asleep two minutes ago.

The boy is asleep. (status/situation/condition)

Connection to Now:The boy has been asleep for two minutes.

BUSTED!

He woke up. He is awake now.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

+------------------------+---------------

IN SENTENCES/QUESTIONS. The boy fell asleep two minutes ago.

(action) The boy was asleep for two minutes.

(status) The boy has been asleep until now.

(status)

The boy woke up a couple of seconds ago.

The boy is awake now. (status)

When did the boy fall asleep? (action)

How long has the boy been asleep? (status)

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

10:00 11:00 Now

+--------------------+-----------turn on . . . be on turn off . . . be off

ANOTHER EXAMPLE

What happened at 10:00? (When did she…?)

turn(ed) on the television (action)

What happened at 11:00?turn(ed) off the television (action)

What was the status of the tv at 10:30? (past)

The television was on.

What is the status of the tv now? (pr. status)

The television is on.

How long was the television on? (past status)

How long has the television been off?

OTHER TECHNIQUES

Pencil and rubber band

Actors and signs Your ideas

LAST ONE . . .

+---------------------------+------------------

REFERENCE

Butler, Michael and Yu, Chi Fang. 2000. Training Chinese Students to Become Aware of Words that Mark Lexical Aspect in English. Document published online. Soochow University: www.scu.edu.tw