Hello,

Question

how do i explain to my students that this sentence is wrong.I saw him killed a man.tq

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Hi;

Have you done a lesson on infinitive phrases yet?
These can be taught one step at a time.

1) I love to travel. (infinitive phrase as object)
2) I love for you to scratch my back. (infinitive phrase as object of preposition - for. The infinitive has a subject - you)
3) I helped him to wash the dishes. (infinitive with a subject - him; object of the verb helped. )
4) I helped him cook dinner. ( the infinitive has lost its to-marker!)
5) I watched him cook dinner. ( same as above. we do not use the to-marker in infinitive phrases that are the object of certain verbs.)
6) I saw him kill a man. (same as above)

Some verbs require the to-infinitive as objects. Other verbs do not.

I want him to pay the rent. (to is required.)
I advised him to pay the rent. (to is required.)
I asked the agent to change my reservation. (to is required.)

I helped him (to) pay the rent. (to is optional)

I saw him pay the rent. (to must be left out)
I heard Mary play the piano. (to must be left out)

The verb in the object phrase is not inflected because it is an infinitive.

Anonymous · Answer

A few verbs (hear, see, feel, overhear, observe, watch, etc) can be either followed by an -ing form or bare infinitive, but themeaning might be slightly different.

I watched them building the house(suggeststhat we watch, etc, some of the action, but not from start to finish)

I watched him climb (suggests thatwe watch, hear, etc., the whole action from its start to its finish)

Did you hear those dogs barking? (the action is repeated over a period of time)

I notice him throw a sweet wrapper on the floor. (the action happens only once)

These verbs do not allow Simple Past form after the d.o

I hope it can help!

Vane

CalifJim · Answer

The grammatical pattern is:

[Subject] [Verb of Perception*] [Direct object of person**] [Bare infinitive***] ...

*Mostly see, hear, watch.

Other verbs not related to perception are also used in this pattern:
let, make, have, help.

**If this is a pronoun, it is in the objective case: me, him, us, ... (not I, he, we, ...). It does serve as the subject of the following bare infinitive, however.

***The -ing form may substitute for the bare infinitive to indicate perception over a length of time during which an action was taking place. This substitution is not used for the other four verbs not related to perception.

CJ

Hello,

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions