Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Korussian]

It's easy to notice that Koreans office misuse verbs like see vs. look vs. watch, and hear vs. listen.

I did a class in which I differentiated between "see" as a "passive verb", and "look" or "watch" as "active verbs".

My co-teacher told me that that is wrong, and that see is an active verb, unless you put it in a sentence in the passive voice, in which case it turns into a passive verb. In other words, he says, verbs become active or passive depending on whether they're used in the active or passive voice.

I want the students to learn the difference between "I am hearing music" and "I am listening to music". Sure, it's easy enough to point out that the former doesn't require intentionality, and the latter one does, but, am I wrong in calling the former a "Passive Verb" and the latter an "Active Verb"?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

[some waygug-in]

It's a tough distinction to explain to students and I've never heard it described as
"active verb" or "passive verb" before.

I think of it this way,

Look vs see.... to look is making an attempt at seeing, to see is the result of looking.

to look = to try to see.

to see = to recognize and understand what you've looked at.

Same thing with "to listen" and "to hear".

To listen = to try to hear

to hear = to recognize and understand what you've heard.


I hope this helps

[meangradin]

some verb s have stative meanings; they describe states, such as conditions or states that exist. When these verbs have stative meanings, they generally can not be used in progressive tenses. BUT, verbs can have both stative and progressive meanings.

taken from Azar's English Grammar (blue book)

eg. he is tasting the sauce. (ok)
it is tasting good. (no)
i am thinking that you are a good man. (no)
i was just thinking about you (ok)

This is a comon error for non native speakers to make.

I have never thought of this distinction as a passive or active verb as I think passive and active refers only to voice, which is a reflection of the verb.

[Privateer]