[Grammar] Help me in these sentences.

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Starz92

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Mar 31, 2010
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Hi,can someone help me with the following sentences.
1) We saw him take the money.

2) We watched him climb the tree.


Why is it take and climb
in present tense while the "saw" and "watched" already in the past tense indicating that the actions is in the past.

Can someone also help me with past participle tense? On how to use it correctly.
On my previous post here,i did ask about "had" and some members here helped me out by telling me about past perfect tense and gave me a link to wiki about it but after reading through wiki about this past perfect tense,I still not quite understand it.Can someone help clear this out for me.
Thanks a lot.:)
 

tedtmc

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not at teacher

'Saw' and 'watch' causative verbs.

They are followed by the person, then the 'base form of the verb'. The base form is the root word without tenses.

Other examples of causative verbs:

made

The teacher made the students stay back after class.
Peter made her do her homework.

Anyway, it doesn't sound natural if you say this, does it?

Peter made Mary did her homework.
 

Starz92

New member
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
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Student or Learner
not at teacher

'Saw' and 'watch' causative verbs.

They are followed by the person, then the 'base form of the verb'. The base form is the root word without tenses.

Other examples of causative verbs:

made

The teacher made the students stay back after class.
Peter made her do her homework.

Anyway, it doesn't sound natural if you say this, does it?

Peter made Mary did her homework.

So does it means that if the second action is referring to second person it must be in it's normal form?
 

tedtmc

Key Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2006
Member Type
Interested in Language
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
Malaysia
Current Location
Malaysia
So does it means that if the second action is referring to second person it must be in it's normal form?

Yes, only the first verb is in the past tense, not both.
 
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