ACT Activity verbs
Definition
Verbs denoting physical activities: buy, make, run, walk, give, take, build, etc.
Detection Rules
mfte
MFTE matches word forms from vb_act list tagged as verbs (_V or _P), excluding tokens already tagged as DO auxiliary (DOAUX).
cql[word={words} & pos="VB.*"]
combine: _ & !DOAUX
Word list (348 items)
accompanied
accompanies
accompany
accompanying
acquire
acquired
acquires
acquiring
add
added
adding
adds
advance
advanced
advances
advancing
applied
applies
apply
applying
arrange
arranged
arranges
arranging
ate
beat
beaten
beating
beats
behave
behaved
behaves
behaving
borrow
borrowed
borrowing
borrows
bought
bring
bringing
brings
brought
burn
burned
burning
burns
burnt
buy
buying
buys
came
carried
carries
carry
carrying
catch
catches
catching
caught
check
checked
checking
checks
clean
cleaned
cleaner
cleanest
cleaning
cleans
climb
climbed
climbing
climbs
combine
combined
combines
combining
come
comes
coming
control
controlled
controlling
controls
cover
covered
covering
covers
defend
defended
defending
defends
deliver
delivered
delivering
delivers
did
dig
digging
digs
divide
divided
divides
dividing
do
does
doing
done
dug
earn
earned
earning
earns
eat
eaten
eating
eats
encounter
encountered
encountering
encounters
engage
engaged
engages
engaging
exercise
exercised
exercises
exercising
expand
expanded
expanding
expands
explore
explored
explores
exploring
extend
extended
extending
extends
fix
fixed
fixes
fixing
follow
followed
following
follows
form
formed
forming
forms
gave
give
given
gives
giving
hang
hanged
hanging
hangs
held
hold
holding
holds
hung
join
joined
joining
joins
lain
lay
leave
leaves
leaving
left
lie
lied
lies
lose
loses
losing
lost
lying
made
make
makes
making
meet
meets
met
move
moved
moves
moving
obtain
obtained
obtaining
obtains
open
opened
opening
opens
paid
pass
passed
passes
passing
pay
paying
pays
pick
picked
picking
picks
play
played
playing
plays
produce
produced
produces
producing
provide
provided
provides
providing
pull
pulled
pulling
pulls
put
puts
putting
ran
reach
reached
reaches
reaching
receive
received
receives
receiving
reduce
reduced
reduces
reducing
repeat
repeated
repeating
repeats
run
running
runs
sat
save
saved
saves
saving
sell
selling
sells
send
sending
sends
sent
shake
shaken
shakes
shaking
share
shared
shares
sharing
shook
show
showed
showing
shown
shows
sit
sits
sitting
smile
smiled
smiles
smiling
sold
spend
spending
spends
spent
stare
stared
stares
staring
take
taken
takes
taking
threw
throw
throwing
thrown
throws
took
tried
tries
try
trying
turn
turned
turning
turns
use
used
uses
using
visit
visited
visiting
visits
wait
waited
waiting
waits
walk
walked
walking
walks
watch
watched
watches
watching
wear
wearing
wears
win
winning
wins
won
wore
work
worked
working
works
worn
Normalization
Per finite_verbs
Examples
I got up and ran out.
Source: le_foll_2024
Bring your CV.
Source: le_foll_2024
Where have you worked before?
Source: le_foll_2024
Sources
- mfte — Le Foll, Elen & Shakir, Muhammad (2023/2025) : Multi-Feature Tagger of English (MFTE) — Python version
- xiao_2009 — Xiao, Richard (2009) : Multidimensional analysis and the study of world Englishes
Notes
From Biber 2006 LGSWE semantic verb categories.