Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Jerry Chen]

Hello,

I would like to consult you about this:

As the sentence says:
I could feel my legs shaking.

Is it grammatically okay to say, "I could feel my legs shake"?

I once found a grammar rule in a book that says if "can/could" precedes a sense verb, the verb after the object should be in V-ing form(in the above case, "shaking" is better). Is that true? Do English native speakers use it like that?

Thanks for responding to this question!

[IanT]

Yes, the -ing form is more common in this kind of sentence and sounds better. Especially if you are talking about a specific moment.

Sometimes, if we are talking about a general ability we might use the infinitve, e.g.

After the operation I could feel my legs move again.

But -ing is more normal for most situations.

Hope helps,
Ian
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