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Ianhquinn Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
Infinitive verbal after direct object of verb
While tutoring an ESL student, I encountered a feature of grammar that I had no explanation for.
Consider the sentence: I see it run.
My student wanted to know why the sentence shouldn't read "I see it runs," since the third-person singular pronoun "it" seems to be the subject of the verb "run."
I thought about this some more after the session, comparing it to the sentence "I see that it runs," and the difference seems to lie in the fact that there is only one clause in the first sentence, while there are two clauses in the second, so "it" is an object in a clause in the first sentence and a subject in a clause in the second sentence.
In the second sentence, "runs" is functioning as the VP of the second clause. But what about in the first sentence? It seems to be functioning as an adverbial phrase, modifying the verb "see," but I'm really not sure.
Anyone know more about this than I do?
Much appreciated.
Consider the sentence: I see it run.
My student wanted to know why the sentence shouldn't read "I see it runs," since the third-person singular pronoun "it" seems to be the subject of the verb "run."
I thought about this some more after the session, comparing it to the sentence "I see that it runs," and the difference seems to lie in the fact that there is only one clause in the first sentence, while there are two clauses in the second, so "it" is an object in a clause in the first sentence and a subject in a clause in the second sentence.
In the second sentence, "runs" is functioning as the VP of the second clause. But what about in the first sentence? It seems to be functioning as an adverbial phrase, modifying the verb "see," but I'm really not sure.
Anyone know more about this than I do?
Much appreciated.
Top answer
In I hear/see it do something , the form of the second verb is the bare infinitive.
- In I hear/see it do something , the form of the second verb is the bare infinitive.
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3 Answers
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In I hear/see it do something, the form of the second verb is the bare infinitive.
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ianhquinna feature of grammar that I had no explanation forGoogle "catenative verb". That's the feature of grammar that you're dealing with here. There are loads of cases in English where two verbs are linked together grammatically—see and run in this case. The second verb is governed by the first, that is, the first verb governs which form t
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What about the sentence "He doesn't see her give the boy three kisses."
my student wants to know why the second verb isn't "gives" which would be correct if the second phrase was a separate sentence starting with "she".
What kind of construction do you call this, when the object, "her", is the subject of the second clause. ?
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