Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Sense verbs
Let us study the verbs of the senses...
1. HEAR, SEE, SMELL, FEEL, TASTE
The five basic sense verbs, hear, see, smell, feel, and taste are stative (non action) verbs. We
normally use the word can with these verbs to refer to something happening at the moment.
We don't usually use sense verbs in the continuous form DONT say : I am hearing a noise. I am
feeling a pain behind my eye .
Hear and see can also be dynamic verbs and used in the continuous form, but with a different
meaning. Pay attention to these examples:
I've been hearing good things about you recently . (I have been receiving information)
I'm seeing James tonight. ( I have arranged to meet him)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
see / hear + object + verb in gerund = (you saw / heard an action in progress or a repeated
action.)
The same distinction also applies to verbs after watch and notice.
SEEM
PRACTICE
Sense verbs
ACTIVITY 1: Complete these sentences with a suitable form of a verb from the list. Then check the
answers.
not feel - see
- hear - smell
- look
taste
ACTIVITY 2 : Complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first using the words
in BOLD and capital letters. Then check the answers.