My intuition was that the verb to wear could be used in two ways (besides all its other senses that is.)
- A "stative" sense related to the state of having clothes (etc) on.
- A "dynamic" sense related to the action of putting clothes on, donning clothes.
I was surprised to find that all the dictionaries I've checked online support only the first, stative sense, and none supported the second, dynamic sense.
Is my intuition at fault? Are the dictionaries just being a tad prescriptive with this? What do other sources such as grammar and other fields of linguistics have to say about this, if anything?
I've found some supporting evidence for my intuition in the Wikipedia article for stative verbs:
3. They do not occur as imperatives, except when used in an inchoative manner.
- Run!
- *Know the answer!
- Know thyself! (inchoative, not stative; archaic)
Examples of dynamic wear I can think up are mostly imperatives:
- Wear a coat if you're going outside!
(But I've never had a good grasp of the inchoative, so maybe there's a gap, or maybe it depends on who is analysing?
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