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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
The difference between "watching her reading a book" vs "watch her read a book"
- What’s the difference between “watch her reading a book” and “watch her read a book”?
Also, is it better to use “He hears his heart pound” or “He hears his heart pounding”?
- Thanks in advance!
Top answer
When there is a difference, the -ing form does not indicate whether the action finished while the speaker watched; with the infinitive form, the speaker watched the complete action. Often however, and depending on the nature of the action verb, both forms have the same intent. In your first example, it is highly unlikely that the watcher watched her read the entire book, so 'reading' is the logical choice.
- When there is a difference, the -ing form does not indicate whether the action finished while the speaker watched; with the infinitive form, the speaker watched the complete action.
- Often however, and depending on the nature of the action verb, both forms have the same intent.
- In your first example, it is highly unlikely that the watcher watched her read the entire book, so 'reading' is the logical choice.
- In your 2nd example, presumably the pounding continues indefinitely and so 'pounding' is again the better choice.
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1 Answers
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When there is a difference, the -ing form does not indicate whether the action finished while the speaker watched; with the infinitive form, the speaker watched the complete action. Often however, and depending on the nature of the action verb, both forms have the same intent. In your first example, it is highly unlikely that the watcher watched her read the entire book, so 'reading' is
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