"I saw you doing something"

Question

Apologize that I know there are many similar questions but I am still not satisfied with them so asking a new question here.

For example, there is a sentence like "I saw you doing something".

Non-finite clause complementation of complex transitive verbs

The above link's guy suggests that this form is possible for sense verbs and infinitive form is actually interchangeable with gerund form. I do understand that and it's clear.

But, how about this: "You being that kind of person harms everybody"? (Sorry I just made a sentence and it has no meaning)

More generally, I am questioning if it's possible to use

noun + infinitive/gerund + object

as a noun phrase.

It's always confusing.

This is a timely question. I am not sure this is an answer, so it’s in ‘comment’. You illustrate, I think, the grey border between rule-based explanation of grammatical patterns and attention to ‘usage’. Your sentence does mean something. A paraphrase would be something like: “The fact that you are the kind of person you are harms everyone.”. You can criticise the the statement in all sorts of ways. It’s not being the kind of person that does the harm: it’s the behaviour. And you could defend the sentence by claiming the two things are the same. I could say “you” should be “your”. — Tuffy, Oct 18 '19 at 08:47
Possible duplicate of "...his parents' dream of *him* achieving a Cambridge degree." What is the function of "him" here? (This answers the 'Everybody is harmed by you/your being that kind of person' question. The related ACC-ing as subject question is answered elsewhere, and sentences involving the to-infinitive are a totally different question.) — Edwin Ashworth, Oct 18 '19 at 09:38
Is 'me trying to do something' grammatical? has 'John trying to dance is a sight best avoided.' — Edwin Ashworth, Oct 18 '19 at 09:48
'We knew [John] to be a spy' is addressed at the question you reference. 'John to be a spy was something we knew' is, however, not grammatical. — Edwin Ashworth, Oct 18 '19 at 09:53
Possible duplicate of: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9649/i-saw-him-crossing-vs-i-saw-him-cross — Jvlnarasimharao, Nov 17 '19 at 11:28
the sentence you wrote is grammatical and meaningful, and the answer to your question toward the end of your post is yes — Arm the good guys in America, Nov 17 '19 at 16:14

score -1 · Answer 1 · edited Oct 18 '19 at 09:57

-1

It is said that there is a small difference between

a) I saw her go home... and

b) I saw her going home...,

in that the former reflects 'go' as a regular action, and in the latter 'going' was progressing exactly (ie only) at that time.

This is not a universally accepted argument. Still, grammarians in general say that both are not much dissimilar. I always tend to favour the first one, but it is not passivisable:

a' *She was seen go home.

b' She was seen going home.

edited Oct 18 '19 at 09:57

Edwin Ashworth

83,272

answered Oct 18 '19 at 09:29

Ram Pillai

637

Hello, Ram. I was just reformatting (it's not easy until you get used to ELU's quirks), but saw that 'isn't as good' should be 'isn't grammatical' (abbreviated to a preceding asterisk). I've also made it a little less anecdotal in tone. // I'd distinguish between 'I saw her go home' and 'I saw her going home', the first meaning 'I saw her leave work (say)' and the second 'I noticed / met her as she was (or as I was!) on her/my way home.' – Edwin Ashworth Oct 18 '19 at 09:59

Jvlnarasimharao · Answer 2 · 2019-11-17T16:03:16.383

I would like to give an oft repeated example to make the difference clear.

I saw her crossing the road

I saw her cross the road

I saw her crossing the road means I saw her when she was crossing the road( I saw her when she was crossing at a point on the road)

I saw her cross the road means I saw her crossing the road from one side to the other( the entire activity)

Here is a link which shows the difference.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-%E2%80%9CI-saw-him-cross-the-road%E2%80%9D-and-%E2%80%9CI-saw-him-crossing-the-road%E2%80%9D

"I saw you doing something"

2 Answers2