Korean Job Discussion Forums

[meangradin]

A post from yesterday stated: "sense verbs+object+simple form," as in, "I saw a man walk by."

Fair enough, but my question is, what is "looking" in this sentence from a famous children's book? "I see a brown bear looking at me.

Is it an object complement, and therefore a gerund? Is it an adjective, and therefore a participle, or is it being used progressively with the relative pronoun and aux. verb ommited [ie, I see a brown bear (that is) looking at me). According to the post from yesterday, it should read' "I see a brown bear look at me(?)"

This has been bugging me for a little while and I would love to clear it up.

thank you for your help.

[meangradin]

According to "OWL", the idea that the verb "see" + an object must be followed by the simple form of a verb is totally bogus. In fact, it can be followed by either a gerund or a bare infinitive, with the difference being that sometimes the gerund indicates a continuous action, while the bare infintive (simple/base form) can indicate a one time action.

She saw them jumping on the bed. (continuous action)
She saw them jump on the bed. (one-time action)

However, just to be clear, they both can refer to continuous action.

We watched him playing basketball. (continuous action)
We watched him play basketball. (continuous action)

[meangradin]

According to "OWL", the idea that the verb "see" + an object must be followed by the simple form of a verb is totally bogus. In fact, it can be followed by either a gerund or a bare infinitive, with the difference being that sometimes the gerund indicates a continuous action, while the bare infintive (simple/base form) can indicate a one time action.

She saw them jumping on the bed. (continuous action)
She saw them jump on the bed. (one-time action)

However, just to be clear, they both can refer to continuous action.

We watched him playing basketball. (continuous action)
We watched him play basketball. (continuous action)

[suneater]

[meangradin]

I agree that it is most probably a participle, as it seems to be acting more like a modifier; however, it does not make sense when you try to transform in to the usual adjective-noun position (a looking bear?)

As for it being an object complement, I don't think gerunds can act this way. They clearly can be subject complements, but I can not find an example of them acting as object complements; so strike that one.

What is clear to me; contemporary grammarians seem to have a distain for the "gerund" label, as the line between a gerund and a participle can be unclear in English, compared to Latin. Hence, the use of the "gerund-particple label.

To make a long story short, I need to go back to school!

PS, where is Woland (sp?) when I need him?

[Hanson]

A1 - I saw him look at me = a glance, a short action that occurred and is now finished. Nothing to be worried about, right?

A2 - I saw him looking at me = a longer period of time, a continuous action over time. In this example, it would suggest a creepy guy leering at the speaker of this sentence. The action may or may not have been finished.

B1 - I saw him eat an apple = suggests a completed action, the apple is gone now. The whole action was witnessed by the speaker of this sentence.

B2 - I saw him eating an apple = continuous action, but it does not suggest that the action was finished, or that the speaker witnessed the action all the way through to its completion. It is possible to assume, in this case, that for a continuous period of time, the speaker witnessed the action, but did not necessarily see it through to its full end.

Make sense?

[meangradin]

Thanks Hanson, but the original question was what is the "ing" verbal; a gerund or a participle?

Any thoughts on that?

[cbclark4]

I think you may be overthinking that.

I think you overthought that.

[Vicissitude]

[meangradin]

"In this case, looking is a gerund. There is an -ing clause and the object is "me." A participle functions as an adjective and in this case the word is definately a verb."

However, a gerund is only ever a noun, not a verb. A participle can be a verb when used in the progressive tense ( the bear is looking at me). Of course, here there is no "be" verb, so again, I am uncertain how "looking" functions in the sentence.

[suneater]

[Hanson]

[GreenlightmeansGO]

Grammar was much easier when I didn't care so much.

Yeah, from what I've read it looks like Vic's post is correct. It's a gerund.

The full explanation: 'the bear looking at me' acts as a noun (it is the object of 'saw'), therefore 'looking' is a gerund...
BUT, in the bounds of the 'dependent' clause, 'looking' acts as a participle.

There's a good chance I said something misleading. If you know better, please do share your knowledge.

[suneater]

[Vicissitude]