Acceptability of Stative Verbs in Progressive Form within Linguistic Context

Abstract

The controversy over the use of English stative verbs in progressive aspect has vexed the researchers throughout the ages. Traditional grammars see “progressive statives” as highly unacceptable in any context. However, Smiecinska (2002) goes in line with Kakietek (1997) who admits the acceptability of stative verbs in progressive form. The present study reports on a survey conducted among 68 EFL learners of intermediate, bachelor and master’s level studying at Govt. Postgraduate College Burewala, Punjab, Pakistan. The main object of the study was to explore the acceptability level of progressive statives. Secondly, this paper focused on examining the extent to which the context of stative verb plays its role in imposing the choice of progressive aspect. For the purpose of data collection, a questionnaire designed by Smiecinska (2002) was used with few changes in it after the pilot study was completed. The findings of the survey went along with those reported in previous studies. The majority of the participants considered the stative verbs in progressive form as acceptable with a wide margin. The results revealed that the higher the study level was, the more acceptability was. However, the study culminated in a perception that aloofness from the grammatical rules invites dependency on the context in choosing aspect for stative verb.