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In the sentence "I stand corrected", the word "stand" seems like a stative (a state of being) rather than dynamic usage. Similarly, "I can't stand eating liver" seems like a stative form of usage. Or does the allusion to physical action (i.e. to stand up) mean it remains a dynamic form of usage?

Tandy
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  • Why do you want to know? What difference does it make? Do you know about our sister site for [ell.se]? – tchrist Aug 30 '20 at 22:32
  • This is not a feature of stand. This is the idiom can('t) stand, which requires a modal -- He didn't stand eating liver is ungrammatical, as is He stood eating liver (except in the physical sense of 'stand up'). – John Lawler Aug 30 '20 at 22:33
  • @JohnLawler I wonder why you can say I stood corrected but saying I didn’t stand corrected* sounds wrong. – tchrist Aug 30 '20 at 22:37
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    @tchrist I think it's because stand corrected refers to a particular kind of event, where the speaker acknowledges a correction. That has a past tense, but what would a negative mean? *I don't stand corrected is just as bad in the present. tense. – John Lawler Aug 30 '20 at 22:41

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Those are two extremely different uses of the verb stand.

The first is intransitive with an adjectival predicate complement describing the subject just as you might find with remain or be. It is a figurative use, not literal standing up straight.

The second is transitive with a direct object of eating liver.

These two senses are found far from each other in the OED. The first is the intransitive one:

I. Of persons and animals, in literal and figurative senses. intransitive

9. a. To remain firm or steady in an upright position, to support oneself erect on one's feet. Often in negative contexts. Also with adjective or adv., as fast, firm, stiff.
b. fig. To remain steadfast, firm, secure, or the like. Also with adjective or adv.

And then much later we find the other one, which is transitive:

V. Transitive senses.

  • Originating from the conversion of an indirect into a direct object, from the omission of a preposition, or from intransitive uses with cognate object.
  1. a. To put up with, tolerate; (to be able or willing) to endure.
    b. Familiarly in more trivial sense (with negative expressed or implied): To reconcile oneself to, be favourably disposed to, feel any liking for (a repugnant or distasteful object).

Your second example sentence could have been equivalently written:

  • I can’t stand to eat liver.

  • I can’t stand liver.

  • I cannot abide liver.

tchrist
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  • Thanks. I agree I mixed transitive and intransitive forms in my examples, but that still leaves me with the question of whether the intransitive form is stative or dynamic. Based on the OED definition, it sounds like a sentence like, "the tree stands tall" makes it "dynamic" because "supporting oneself erect" is an active process, though a lot of stative verbs like "think" can have this sense also. – Tandy Aug 30 '20 at 23:10
  • @Tandy What practical effect would deciding this stative–dynamic feature test have? Are you just trying to figure out whether non-native speakers are allowed to use -ing forms of this verb? – tchrist Aug 30 '20 at 23:28
  • I am building a semantic parser that extracts results from a speech recognition engine. So categorizing whether a verb is dynamic or stative provides information about its intended meaning. – Tandy Aug 31 '20 at 02:32
  • @Tandy That's a good reason — and a hard task. I wish you good fortune in the battles to come. – tchrist Aug 31 '20 at 02:40