MENTAL Mental verbs

Definition

Verbs of cognition and perception: see, know, think, want, feel, believe, understand, remember, etc.

Detection Rules

mfte

cql[word={words} & pos="VB.*"]
Word list (354 items)
accept accepted accepting accepts agree agreed agreeing agrees appreciate appreciated appreciates appreciating approve approved approves approving assess assessed assesses assessing assume assumed assumes assuming bear bearing bears believe believed believes believing blame blamed blames blaming bore borne bother bothered bothering bothers calculate calculated calculates calculating care cared cares caring celebrate celebrated celebrates celebrating choose chooses choosing chose chosen compare compared compares comparing conclude concluded concludes concluding confirm confirmed confirming confirms consider considered considering considers count counted counting counts dare dared dares daring decide decided decides deciding detect detected detecting detects determine determined determines determining discover discovered discovering discovers dismiss dismissed dismisses dismissing distinguish distinguished distinguishes distinguishing doubt doubted doubting doubts enjoy enjoyed enjoying enjoys examine examined examines examining expect expected expecting expects experience experienced experiences experiencing face faced faces facing fear feared fearing fears feel feeling feels felt forgave forget forgets forgetting forgive forgiven forgives forgiving forgot forgotten guess guessed guesses guessing hate hated hates hating hear heard hearing hears hope hoped hopes hoping identified identifies identify identifying ignore ignored ignores ignoring imagine imagined imagines imagining impress impressed impresses impressing intend intended intending intends interpret interpreted interpreting interprets judge judged judges judging justified justifies justify justifying knew know knowing known knows learn learned learning learns learnt like liked likes liking listen listened listening listens love loved loves loving mind minding minds miss missed misses missing need needed needing needs notice noticed notices noticing observe observed observes observing perceive perceived perceives perceiving plan planned planning plans predict predicted predicting predicts prefer preferred preferring prefers pretend pretended pretending pretends prove proved proven proves proving read reading reads realize realized realizes realizing recall recalled recalling recalls reckon reckoned reckoning reckons recognise recognised recognises recognising recognize recognized recognizes recognizing regard regarded regarding regards remember remembered remembering remembers remind reminded reminding reminds satisfied satisfies satisfy satisfying saw see seeing seen sees solve solved solves solving studied studies study studying suffer suffered suffering suffers suppose supposed supposes supposing suspect suspected suspecting suspects think thinking thinks thought trust trusted trusting trusts understand understands understood wan want wanted wanting wants wish wished wishes wishing wonder wondered wondering wonders worried worries worry worrying

Requires: word, pos

⚠ “see” and “hear” are perception verbs — a potential sub-category worth splitting.

pybiber

cql[word={words} & pos="VB.*"]
Word list (281 items)
accept accepted accepting accepts anticipate anticipated anticipates anticipating ascertain ascertained ascertaining ascertains assume assumed assumes assuming believe believed believes believing calculate calculated calculates calculating check checked checking checks conclude concluded concludes concluding conjecture conjectured conjectures conjecturing consider considered considering considers decide decided decides deciding deduce deduced deduces deducing deem deemed deeming deems demonstrate demonstrated demonstrates demonstrating determine determined determines determining discern discerned discerning discerns discover discovered discovering discovers doubt doubted doubting doubts dream dreamed dreaming dreams dreamt ensure ensured ensures ensuring establish established establishes establishing estimate estimated estimates estimating expect expected expecting expects fancied fancies fancy fancying fear feared fearing fears feel feeling feels felt find finding finds foresaw foresee foreseeing foresees forget forgets forgetting forgot forgotten found gather gathered gathering gathers guess guessed guesses guessing hear heard hearing hears held hold holding holds hope hoped hopes hoping imagine imagined imagines imagining implied implies imply implying indicate indicated indicates indicating infer inferred inferring infers insure insured insures insuring judge judged judges judging knew know knowing known knows learn learned learning learns learnt mean meaning means meant note noted notes notice noticed notices noticing noting observe observed observes observing perceive perceived perceives perceiving presume presumed presumes presuming presuppose presupposed presupposes presupposing pretend pretended pretending prove proved proves proving realise realised realises realising realize realized realizes realizing reason reasoned reasoning reasons recall recalled recalling recalls reckon reckoned reckoning reckons recognise recognised recognises recognising recognize recognized recognizes recognizing reflect reflected reflecting reflects remember remembered remembering remembers reveal revealed revealing reveals saw see seeing seen sees sense sensed senses sensing show showed showing shown shows signified signifies signify signifying suppose supposed supposes supposing suspect suspected suspecting suspects think thinking thinks thought understand understanding understands understood

Requires: word, pos

Normalization

Per finite_verbs

Examples

She believed every word he said.

Frodo felt a sudden chill and knew that danger was near.

He could see the tower in the distance.

They discovered the secret passage behind the bookshelf.

Source: pybiber

We want to see you tomorrow.

Source: le_foll_2024

Did you never hear back?

Source: le_foll_2024

I don’t recognize any.

Source: le_foll_2024

Non-examples

She felt the rough surface of the stone wall.

felt = tactile action, not mental verb — detector matches but wrong sense

Sources

  • biber_1988 — Biber, Douglas (1988) : Variation across Speech and Writing
  • mfte — Le Foll, Elen & Shakir, Muhammad (2023/2025) : Multi-Feature Tagger of English (MFTE) — Python version
  • pybiber — Brown, David West & Reinhart, Alex (2026) : pybiber — Python package for linguistic feature extraction and Multi-Dimensional Analysis
  • xiao_2009 — Xiao, Richard (2009) : Multidimensional analysis and the study of world Englishes
  • grieve_2023 — Grieve, Jack (2023) : Register variation explains stylometric authorship analysis
  • bohmann_2019 — Bohmann, Axel (2019) : Variation in English Worldwide: Varieties and Genres in a Quantitative Perspective

Notes

Biber’s “private verbs” (assume, believe, feel, think) = highest loading on D1 (.96). MFTE’s MENTAL is the closest equivalent. Xiao (2009) splits this into two categories: B44 “Cognitive verbs” (mental processes: think, know, believe, understand) and B48 “Private verbs” (internal states: feel, want, wish, hope), both detected via the USAS semantic tagger. Here they are combined under a single MENTAL feature following MFTE and Biber’s original grouping. A future refinement could split these into separate atomic features with MENTAL as their composite parent.