Selasa, 19 Agustus 2014

Stative and Dynamic Adjectives

Stative and Dynamic Adjectives

As their name suggests, STATIVE adjectives denote a state or condition, which may generally be considered permanent, such as big,redsmall. Stative adjectives cannot normally be used in imperative constructions:  
 
      *Be big/red/small  
Further, they cannot normally be used in progressive constructions:  
 
      *He is being big/red/small 
In contrast, DYNAMIC adjectives denote attributes which are, to some extent at least, under the control of the one who possesses them. For instance, brave denotes an attribute which may not always be in evidence (unlike red, for example), but which may be called upon as it is required. For this reason, it is appropriate to use it in an imperative:   
 
      Be brave
Dynamic adjectives include: 
 
 
calm 
careful 
cruel 
disruptive 
foolish 
friendly 
good 
impatient
mannerly 
patient 
rude 
shy 
suspicious 
tidy 
vacuous 
vain 
   
All dynamic adjectives can be used in imperatives (Be careful!Don't be cruel!), and they can also be used predicatively in progressive constructions:   
 
      Your son is being disruptive in class  
      My parents are being foolish again  
      We're being very patient with you 
The majority of adjectives are stative. The stative/dynamic contrast, as it relates to adjectives, is largely a semantic one, though as we have seen it also has syntactic implications.   
  

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