按照动作的执行者是有生命的还是无生命的这一标准，英语和汉语的动词均可分为有灵动词和无灵动词。前者用在表示有生命的名词后，后者用在表示无生命的名词后。含有灵动词的句子称作有生命主语句，含无灵动词的句子称作无生命主语句。英语和汉语在有灵动词和无灵动词上的差别是：有灵动词与无灵动词在英语中无有明确的区别，即一个动词常常是既可用作有灵动词、又可用作无灵动词；而在汉语中这两类动词之间却有明确的区别，即一个用作有灵动词的动词不能同时用作无灵动词。
例如：
（1） One reliable source said that major tax changes were being considered by the Treasury. 据可靠消息，财政部正在考虑对税收办法作重大改革。
（2） John said that he would come this evening.约翰说他今晚来。
上述两例中的said 分别与表示无生命的事物的 one reliable source 和表示有生命的John搭配。前句是无生命主语句，后者是有生命主语句。动词 say在前一例中用作无灵动词，在后一例中用作有灵动词。而汉语中与say相对应的动词是"说"，它只能作有灵动词。如改作无灵动词，则很不符合汉语的表达习惯。英译汉时一是要弄清英语无生命主语句特点，二是对原句的结构和搭配必须作出相应的调整。
有些动词既可以是有灵动词，又可以是无灵动词，翻译时要灵活把握。如kill，请看：
不能统一翻译为：杀死，要根据其有灵动词和无灵动词的转换灵活翻译。
He tried to kill himself with sleeping pills.
他试图服安眠药自杀。
More than 1,000 people have been killed by the armed forces...
1,000多人被武装部队杀死。
Tell Richard I'm going to kill him when I get hold of him.
告诉理查德，一旦抓住他，我要杀了他。
The president was killed on his way to the office.
总统在上班路上被杀了。
My feet are killing me.
我的脚疼死了。
Cancer kills thousands of people every year.
每年数以千计的人死于癌症。
Six people were killed in the riot, including a policeman.
暴乱中有六人死亡，包括一名警察。
The family was killed in an air raid.
这家人在一次空袭中遇难。
Three of them were killed in the subsequent encounter with the police.
他们中有三个人在后来与警察的冲突中被杀死。
Hundreds of people are killed or maimed in car accidents every week.
每周都有数百人因车祸而丧命或致残。
His wife was killed in a car accident.
他的妻子在一次车祸中丧生。
I'll make this marriage work if it kills me.
再难我也要努力使这桩婚姻幸福美满。
According to official statistics the disease killed over 500 people.
根据官方的统计数字，500多人死于这种疾病。
Two children were run over and killed.
两名儿童被轧死了。
It's a sad fact that many of those killed were children.
让人难以接受的是遇难者中很多是孩子。
He produced a handwritten list of nine men he was supposed to kill
他拿出了一份手写的名单，上面列有9个他应该要杀死的人。
Three people were killed and five injured in the crash.
撞车事故中有三人死亡，五人受伤。
At least ten people were killed in the crash.
至少有十人在撞车事故中丧生。
She was killed in a fall from a horse.
她从马背上掉下来摔死了。
The town raised a memorial to those killed in the war.
这座小镇为战争中牺牲的人树立了一座纪念碑。
These are the cells that directly attack and kill micro-organisms.
这些细胞可以直接攻击和杀死微生物。
You shouldn't always have to kill yourself to do well.
你不该总是为了做到尽善尽美而累坏自己。
My mother will kill me when she finds out.
我妈要是发现了会宰了我的。
Cancer kills thousands of people every year.
每年数以千计的人死于癌症。
Some drugs kill off useful bacteria in the user's body.
某些药物会杀死服用者体内的有益细菌。
Three people were killed in the crash.
三人在此次撞车事故中丧生。
Tiredness while driving can kill.
疲劳驾驶会出人命的。
Do you agree that television kills conversation?
电视扼杀人与人之间的交谈，你同意这种说法吗？
He has effectively killed off any political opposition.
他实际上已消灭了一切对立的政见。
An increase in crime could kill the golden goose of tourism.
犯罪率的上升可能会扼杀旅游业这只产金蛋的鹅。
His objective was to kill the space station project altogether...
他的目的是使空间站项目全面停止。
He was forced to take opium to kill the pain.
他被迫服用鸦片来止痛。
The defeat last night killed the team's chances of qualifying.
昨晚的失败使这个队失去了获得资格的机会。
I bought a spray to kill the weeds.
我买了一种喷剂可以除草。
We killed time playing cards.
我们打纸牌消磨时间。
I'm just killing time until I can talk to the other witnesses.
在和其他目击者交谈前我只是在打发时间。
He was killing himself laughing.
他笑得前仰后合。
Assuming that his family had been killed during an air-mid, Hans settled down in a village fifty miles away where he had remained ever since.（新概念3，p90）
汉斯猜想他的家人在一次空袭中全被炸死了（遇难了），于是他就在五十英里外的一个村庄定居下来，从那以后一直在那里。
A German taxi-driver, Franz Bussman , recently found a brother who was thought to have been killed twenty years before.（同上）
一个名叫Franz Bussman的德国出租车司机，最近找到了人们认为在二十年前就已死了（战死了）的兄弟。