Editing Defective verb (section)

=== Impersonal verbs ===
[[Impersonal verb]]s such as ''to rain'' and ''to snow'' share some characteristics with the defective verbs in that forms such as ''I rain'' or ''they snow'' are not often found; however, the crucial distinction is that impersonal verbs are "missing" certain forms for semantic reasons—in other words, the forms themselves exist and the verb is capable of being fully conjugated with all its forms (and is therefore not defective) but some forms are unlikely to be found because they appear meaningless or nonsensical.

Nevertheless, native speakers can typically use and understand metaphorical or even literal sentences where the "meaningless" forms exist, such as ''I rained on his parade'' or ''She doesn't frost cakes, she snows them.''

Contrast the impersonal verb ''rain'' (all the forms of which exist, even if they sometimes look semantically odd) with the defective verb ''can'' (only ''I can'' and ''I could'' are possible). In most cases, a synonym for the defective verb must be used instead (for example, "to be able to"). (The forms with an asterisk {{Angbr|*}} are impossible, at least with respect to the relevant sense of the verb; these phonemes may by coincidence be attested with respect to a [[homograph]] [as with "canning" = "the act of preserving and [[Canning|packaging in cans]]"].)
{|
|-
| I rain        || &nbsp; || I can             || &nbsp; || I am able to
|-
| I rained      || &nbsp; || I could           || &nbsp; || I was able to
|-
| I am raining  || &nbsp; || ''*I am canning'' || &nbsp; || ''*I am being able to''
|-
| I have rained || &nbsp; || ''*I have could'' || &nbsp; || I have been able to
|-
| to rain       || &nbsp; || ''*to can''       || &nbsp; || to be able to
|}