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Unit 1: English In A Minute
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Session 64

Welcome to English In A Minute. Give us a minute and we'll give you a hot tip about English. Grammar, vocabulary... there's so much to learn! And all taught by your favourite BBC Learning English staff!

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    Activity 1
  1. Activity 1

Activity 1

Verbs of perception: See & Hear

Do you have a minute to spare to learn some English? Saskia's going to set us up with everything we need to use the verbs of perception see and hear! Give us 60 seconds and we'll give you the English!

Watch the video and complete the activity

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Saskia
Hi! Saskia for BBC Learning English here, and today I'm going to tell you about how we use verbs of perception in English.

There are a number of these verbs but I'm just going to look at two with you now: see and hear.

When we use these verbs, this is the form:

  • First, the verb of perception.
  • Then, the object of the sentence.
  • Then we have either the infinitive without to or the -ing form.

Here's an example: I heard him go down the stairs. 
Or: I heard him going down the stairs.

There's a slight difference between these two forms:

  • When we use the infinitive, it suggests that we hear or see the whole action or event.
  • Using the –ing form suggests that we hear or see something in progress.

'I saw her cross the street' means I saw her cross from one side to the other.
'I saw her crossing the street' means I saw her in the middle – on the way across.

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Did you like that? Why not try these?

EIAM Teaser 6mingram_29_verb_patterns.jpg 6minvocab_li_23_silent_letters.jpg______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Verbs of perception: See & Hear

Form
Verb of perception + object + infinitive without to / -ing form

  • I heard him go down the stairs.
  • I heard him going down the stairs.

Infinitive without to or -ing form?
There is a slight difference between the two forms.

Infinitive without to
When using the infinitive, it suggests that we see or hear the whole action or event.

  • I heard him go down the stairs.
  • I saw her cross the street.

-ing form
When we use the -ing form, it suggests that we see or hear something in progress.

  • I heard him going down the stairs
  • I saw her crossing the steet.

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