SEE somebody DO/DOING ~ RATHER-QUITE-FAIRLY-PRETTY

SEE SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING
SEE SOMEBODY DOING SOMETHING
A. Study this example situation:
Tom got into his car and drove away. You
saw this.
You can say:
- I saw Tom get into his car and drive away.
In this structure we use get / drive / do, etc. (not to get / to drive / to do).
( Somebody did something + I saw this. (
( I saw somebody do something.
But after a passive (he was seen, etc.) we use to:
- He was seen to get in the car.
B. Study this example situation:
Yesterday you saw Kate. She was waiting for a bus.
You can say:
- I saw Kate waiting for a bus.
In this structure, we use -ing (waiting / doing, etc.):
( Somebody was doing something + I saw this (
I saw somebody doing something.
C. Study the difference in meaning between the two structures:
1. I saw him do something = he did something (past simple) and I saw this. I saw the complete action from beginning to end:
- He fell off the wall. I saw this. ( I saw him fall off the wall.
- The accident happened. Did you see it? ( Did you see the accident happen?
* I saw him doing something = he was doing something (past continuous) and I saw this. I saw him when he was in the middle of doing it. This does not mean that I saw the complete action:
- He was walking along the street.
I saw him walking along the street.
I saw this when I drove past in my car.
Sometimes the difference is not important and you can use either form:
- I`ve never seen her dance. or I`ve never seen her dancing.
D. We use these structures with see and hear and a number of other verbs:
- I didn’t hear you come in. (you came in - I didn’t hear this)
- Lisa suddenly felt somebody touch her on the shoulder.
- Did you notice anyone go out?
- I could hear it raining. (it was raining - I could hear it)
- A man was seen running away a short time after the break-in.
- Listen to the birds singing!
- Can you smell something burning?
- We looked everywhere for Paul, and finally we found him sitting under a tree in the garden and eating an apple.

PRACTICE
I. In each of these situations you and a friend saw, heard or smelt something. Look at the pictures and complete the sentences.


1. We saw Kate waiting for a bus.
2. We saw David and Helen...........................................
3. We saw...................................................in a restaurant.
4. We heard....................................................................
5. We could ...................................................................
6. ....................................................
II. Complete these sentences. Use the following verbs (in the correct form):
climb - come - crawl - cry - explode - ride - run - say - sing - slam - sleep - tell
1. Listen to the birds singing!
2. I didn`t hear you come in.
3. We listened to the old man...........his story from beginning to end.
4. Listen! Can you hear a baby................?
5. I looked out of the window and saw Dan.............his bike along the road.
6. I thought I heard somebody...............`Hi`, so I looked round.
7. We watched two men...........across the garden and............through an open window
into the house.
8. Everybody heard the bomb................ . It was a tremendous noise.
9. Oh! I can feel something..................up my leg! lt must be an insect.
10. I heard somebody.............the door in the middle of the night. lt woke me up.
11. When we got home, we found a cat...............on the kitchen table.



ANSWER KEY
I.
1. We saw Kate waiting for a bus.
2 We saw David and Helen playing tennis.
3 We saw Clare eating in a restaurant. [She was having a meal in a restaurant.]
4 We heard Bill playing his guitar.
5 We could smell the dinner burning.
6 We saw Linda jogging / running.
II.
1. Listen to the birds singing!
2. I didn`t hear you come in.
3. We listened to the old man tell his story from beginning to end.
4. Listen! Can you hear a baby crying?
5. I looked out of the window and saw Dan riding his bike along the road.
6. I thought I heard somebody say `Hi`, so