Verbs are wonderful. The root of a verb is aptly called “the infinitive” because any given verb can take place at any time: the past, the present, the future. With verbs, we can express actions that occurred in the past but continue into the present (present perfect: Trump has always been a buffoon) or that will take place in the future after something else occurs (future perfect: I hope that Comey will have completed his public testimony before Sean Spicer’s ass is fired.) Heck! Verbs are so flexible that we can even use them to express hypotheticals, situations contrary to fact, or wishes (conditional: If Paul Ryan loved his country more than power, he would start impeachment proceedings; and subjunctive: I wish McConnell weren’t such a bald-faced liar and hypocrite.)
So, verbs are gifted with temporal agility, and if that were all they were capable of, I think we could still agree that they are pretty remarkable indeed. However, the true beauty of verbs is their ability to allow us to express a limitless range of physical and mental and emotional actions. In other words, they not only allow us to express what we do, but also what we are—and even what we should. It is this aspect of verbs, which is so fundamental to their nature that it is frequently overlooked, that I wish to examine.
In general, then, there are three basic types of verbs: dynamic, stative, and modal.[1] Dynamic verbs, as their name suggests, involve some type of action, process, or behavior. In other words, it’s what we do. Here are some examples:
Hillary Clinton laughed until she nearly wet herself at the notion that Trump had fired Comey because of the FBI’s bungled investigation of her emails.
Anderson Cooper’s eyes rolled like a wheel of fortune during his interview with Kellyanne Conway.
The hundreds of Benghazi “patriots” who had gathered in front of the White House to protest Trump’s loosey-goosey sharing of top-top-top secret intelligence with his Russian comrades screamed, “Lock him up!”[2]
Stative verbs, on the other hand, reflect our states of being, or who we are. These include verbs of existence (“Trump is totally irresponsible”); appearance (“Kellyanne seems really shifty”); feelings and emotion (“McMasters really hates lying to the press on behalf of his shit-storm of a boss”); mental processes (“Mitch McConnell forgot the meaning of the phrase ‘checks and balances’); and possession (“To their chagrin, many GOP congressmen own their votes in favor of TrumpRyanCare”). Generally, you don’t use the progressive (continuous) tense[3] with stative verbs. So, for example, you would say “The chocolate cake tastes all right but really it’s nothing to write home about,” but not “The chocolate cake is tasting all right but really it’s nothing to write home about.” However, there are lots and lots of stative verbs that can also be dynamic.[4] Here’s an example of what I mean:
Sean Spicer lies to the press (stative: he always does it).
Sean Spicer is lying to the press again (dynamic: he is currently in the act of lying).
Sean Spicer is lying prostrate on the rug after the daily briefing (dynamic: using a different meaning of the verb “to lie”).
“To be” can, under certain circumstances be either stative or dynamic, depending on how it’s used:
Sean Spicer is a liar (stative: he always is a liar)
Sean Spicer is being a liar (dynamic: right now, at this moment, Sean Spicer is lying).[5]
“To have” can also be dynamic or stative:
I have had a nasty case of nausea since November 9, 2016 (stative: possession)
I am having a particularly nasty case of nausea right now (dynamic: I am in the process of being sick right now).
However, even though they can behave similarly,[6] they really do not mean the same thing. Consider the difference between these two sentences:
“As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts”
“As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which is absolutely right to do, facts”
Now, as delightfully refreshing as it is to see Trump dealing in facts, even in the most unfortunate of circumstances, I think we can agree that the first sentence (his actual tweet) is quite different from the second sentence (which is what I think he wishes we would think he said). To have the right to do something does not mean that it is right to do it. You would think that was obvious, but, well, you know. Trump.
But this exploration between having a right and being right—the difference between “can” and “ought,” in other words–makes a nice segue to modal verbs. Modal verbs are words that express degrees of necessity and possibility. They include could, should, would, ought, may, might, can, shall, will, and must. Hardly anyone (besides English teachers and other grammar enthusiasts, that is) realizes that these words are verbs at all. They simply don’t act like normal verbs; hell, they don’t even have an infinitive form (there is no “to must”). When diagramming a sentence with modal verbs, most students just scratch their heads and wonder where in the world the goddamned predicate is.
Yet, in many ways, the modal verb is what makes civilization possible. They establish our bounds, and also act as a reality check. When joined by “have”, could, would, and should allow us to evaluate our past actions, and enable us to learn from our mistakes. They really are the most marvelous words. But don’t just take my word for it: look at these incredibly useful examples to see what I mean!
A president may disclose top secret information to a traditional enemy, but perhaps he oughtn’t.
A president could choose to share top secret information with a traditional enemy, but he should not do it just to prove how cool his intelligence sources are.
The Russian officials must have been beside themselves with joy when they received the top secret information from the president.
The next time the president thinks about sharing top secret information with the Russians, he might want to remember that he has a duty to the citizens of his country to act in their best interests.
So, that’s it, then. Dynamic, stative, and modal. Now, you might be thinking that all this is nice, but has nothing to do with real life. Reader, I could not disagree more. If you think about it, looking closely at these verbs should remind us about the difference between our thoughts and our actions, between innate qualities that cannot be changed and attitudes that can be, between the things we can do and the things that we ought (or ought not). That’s because our words and the rules that govern them are not separate from ourselves and our actions, but are entwined in them. We once had a president who understood that, and chose his words carefully as a result. Alas, that is no longer the case. So, if the current president won’t pay attention to his words, then we have no choice but to do it for him. Sad!
[1] Yes, yes, yes. I know that there are auxiliary verbs (AKA “helping verbs”)—to have, to do, and to be. But when these verbs are functioning as auxiliary verbs, they are used to just change the tense of verbs. In other words, they perform a purely grammatical function. So screw them—they’re boring. But please note that I said “functioning as auxiliary verbs” because all of these auxiliary verbs can be dynamic, and two of them can be stative and dynamic (but no prizes for guessing which ones). Verbs. As slippery as the slope the GOP is pushing us down.
[2] Not really—I’m just fucking with you.
[3] The continuous or progressive tense is formed by joining some form of the verb “to be” with the present participle (-ing) of the verb in question. Here’s what I mean:
Past continuous: Donald Trump was eating the most delicious piece of chocolate cake when he shared state secrets with the waiters at Mar-a-Lago.
Present continuous: Right now, Donald Trump is eating the most delicious piece of chocolate cake while sharing state secrets with the waiters at Mar-a-Lago.
Future continuous: Without a doubt, Donald Trump will be eating the most delicious piece of chocolate cake the next time he shares state secrets with the waiters at Mar-a-Lago.
[4] Well, of course there are. This IS English grammar we’re discussing, after all!
[5] However, you need to be careful—there are some conditions that are so innate that you cannot convert them to a dynamic state. So, you can say “Donald Trump is a narcissist,” but not “Donald Trump is being a narcissist.” That’s because Trump’s narcissism is the very core of his personality, and not something that he can turn on or off like a faucet.
[6] And now you know which two auxiliary verbs are both stative and dynamic! Good for you!
© 2017 D.R. Miller
Essayettes 