Grammar

Question

Hi everyoneIn this sentence "We look forward to watching her defend her new title this summer", why "defend" doesn't have "s" at the end?and in the sentence "She is an athlete that pushes herself to the limit. Her training sessions, which start at five o'clock six morning a week, are nothing short of punishing." I don't really understand the bold part, who can explain it for me?Thanks:)

Ian_G · Accepted Answer

The answer to your first question is that you are talking about the future, so the future tense of to defend is used, that is defend.

The phrase nothing short of punishing means the training is punishing, but nothing short of emphasizes this quality.

AFE · Answer

Hello openmind1512!

Your first question is an interesting one, and debatable. The verb form is this:

watch somebody V-infinitive / V-ing

As a soldier, you watch people die every day. - You can watch me burn...

There are also other verbs with the same form:

see; feel; hear etc.

I see you moving that ***. - I want to hear you scream - She can feel the baby moving inside her tummy.

As for the actual grammar of "defend" in your example I will try to explain, but if someone can give a more linguistic explanation - please )))

The subject of "defend" is her, which is also the object of "watch". Because "defend" is controlled by "watch", it has no time (no past, present or future / in English only one verb in a clause can have time), but it can have "aspect" (continuous or simple).

That is the best I can do without my grammar bible next to me. The best thing to do if you are not studying linguistics is to remember Star Wars:

"Feel the force grow inside you."

Openmind1512 · Answer

ok, thanks Ian_G and AFE

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