Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

is it "i saw him walk" or "i saw him walking"?

1,140 views
Skip to first unread message

go...@ccu.umanitoba.ca

unread,
Jun 4, 1991, 10:06:31 AM6/4/91
to

--

sameer goyal
go...@ccu.umanitoba.ca

Roger Lustig

unread,
Jun 4, 1991, 12:27:32 PM6/4/91
to
In article <1991Jun4.1...@ccu.umanitoba.ca> go...@ccu.umanitoba.ca writes:

Depends. What are you trying to say?

In many cases, the two will mean the same thing.

I saw him walk down the street/ I saw him walking down the street

these two DO mean different things. The first one means you saw him
from end to end of the street. The second one means you saw him for an
unspecified length of time/street, and that he was engaged in a walk
down the street while you saw him.

Have I eliminated any residual understanding? 8-)

Roger

sm00sh

unread,
Jun 9, 1991, 10:29:27 PM6/9/91
to

I saw him walk... v. I saw him walking...


So you saw him walk, big deal. It is as if you were going to comment on his
walking style or something. The phrase "I saw him walking" will usually
conclude with something like "when the bomb exploded" or something temporal.


sm00sh

--
jada...@acsu.buffalo.edu
v285...@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu

Matthew Moore

unread,
Jun 11, 1991, 12:41:53 PM6/11/91
to
In <79...@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> jada...@acsu.buffalo.edu (sm00sh) writes:

>I saw him walk... v. I saw him walking...


>So you saw him walk, big deal. It is as if you were going to comment on his
>walking style or something. The phrase "I saw him walking" will usually
>conclude with something like "when the bomb exploded" or something temporal.

I saw him walk the plank. [all of it]

I saw him walking the plank. [not all of it?]

I saw her walking down the road. [i saw her walking]

I saw her walk down the road. [ie all the way dowbn the road]

sm00sh

unread,
Jun 13, 1991, 7:10:12 PM6/13/91
to
tee...@ioe.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore) writes:

>I saw him walk the plank. [all of it]

you are saying that he walked the plank and you were there when it
happened.

>I saw him walking the plank. [not all of it?]

maybe he walked al of it, maybe not... but the sentence is missing some-
thing, maybe not technically, but intuitively. you saw him walking the
plank (when something happened... he cried, he jumped off, the royal navy
came to the rescue... what?

>I saw her walking down the road. [i saw her walking]

again... see the plank comment

>I saw her walk down the road. [ie all the way dowbn the road]

a clarification... although a temporal clause would fit in nicely here...
i saw her walk down the road while i was screaming in pain... it is not
necessary... the sentence stands on its own- as is. i saw her walking down
the road... somehow implies that something else was definately going on in
addition to this event.


sorry for the lqck of quotes and caps... but i'm on a weird keyboard and am
strapped for time so i don't have time to type fast or worry about minutia.


sm00sh
--
jada...@acsu.buffalo.edu
v285...@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu

0 new messages