Do you see what I'm seeing?

[Dominik92]

Hello all,

As far as I know it's becoming more and more common to use the progressive form of this verb.
Here, I'm not focusing on the verb in the sense of dating, meeting or visiting someone but purely analyzing its stative form.
Despite the widespread usage of the verb see in the present continuous tense, in its stative meaning, I thought I couldn't use the present continuous tense in situations when I am physically looking at something. Therefore, I was quite surprised too see the following "structure":

- Do you see what I'm seeing? (comes from the Uncharted movie released I believe in 2020)

My teacher told me that it may have a lot to do with the speaker being surprised or excited, similarly as this native speaker suggests here:

„Are you seeing this?“ makes it sound like the speaker is seeing something unbelievable, and the other person is probably there with them, unless it's something televised or something similar.

or

„I was watching the poll results come in for the next president on my TV when my friend called. ‚Are you seeing this?? I can't believe that he won!‘ I also was completely shocked.“

Also, British speakers don't seem to use the progressive form of the word see as much as Americans. Some natives don't like the progressive form at all, in this sense. What should I take from this?

Would you use these? If so, when? Are these sentences even correct?

- I'm seeing two people injured, the rest seems fine.
- I'm seeing only two options for you, you either give up or keep fighting...
- I'm seeing the suspect, he is hiding behind the car.

Thank you

 

[jutfrank]

As far as I know it's becoming more and more common to use the progressive form of this verb.

I wonder why you think so. Though I do agree that there is possibly a recent increase in the usage of stative verbs in the -ing form generally, I'm not sure there's anything particularly special to be said about 'see'.

My teacher told me that it may have a lot to do with the speaker being surprised or excited

That could be the case, but it would depend on context. As with any use of the progressive aspect, it would really mean the speaker has a reason to emphasise the continuous and limited nature of the verb. We can analyse particular examples if you like, so long as we've got enough context. Can you link a clip to the Uncharted use, so we can see more clearly what's going on?

Also, British speakers don't seem to use the progressive form of the word see as much as Americans. Some natives don't like the progressive form at all, in this sense. What should I take from this?

Again, I wonder why you think so. Is this just what you've concluded from your own observations? It doesn't sound right to me.

Would you use these? If so, when? Are these sentences even correct?

- I'm seeing two people injured, the rest seems fine.
- I'm seeing only two options for you, you either give up or keep fighting...
- I'm seeing the suspect, he is hiding behind the car.

In the right context, with the right reason, you can use either these or very similar sentences, yes. It's better that we discuss authentic usage though, rather than any made-up sentences.

 

[emsr2d2]

- Do you see what I'm seeing? (Comes from the movie "Uncharted", movie released, I believe, in 2020.)

Just as a side note, even though this came from a film, I'm more used to hearing "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" The use of the present continuous in both halves is much neater.

Please note my addition, in the quote box above, of a lot of missing punctuation.

 

[jutfrank]

The use of the present continuous in both halves is much neater.

Yes, that was exactly what I thought too.

 

[EngLearner]

SCENARIO #1:

Suppose someone is wanted by the police. He boards a ship in order to hide there. As the ship starts sailing, a police officer standing on the shore spots the suspect and recognizes him. He reports to his superior:

I'm seeing the suspect. He thinks I can't see him and is hiding behind a car on a ship that's sailing away.

SCENARIO #2:

Someone is wanted by the police. He's hiding behind a car in a parking lot. A police officer notices and recognizes him. He reports to his superior:

I'm in the parking lot near the hospital. I see the suspect. He thinks I can't see him and is hiding behind a car.

QUESTION:

In scenario #1, "I'm seeing the suspect" is used to convey the meaning "I can see him, but I'm losing sight of him." This emphasizes the temporariness of seeing the suspect. The officer realizes that he's not going to be able to see him for too long as the ship is sailing away.

In scenario #2, there's nothing to suggest in the officer's mind that he's going to lose sight of the suspect, so there's no need to emphasize the temporariness of seeing him. Therefore, he uses the standard "I see the suspect."

Does it work like that?

 

[Skrej]

No. You can't use the continuous in scenario #1.

 

[EngLearner]

Then what would be the reason for saying "I'm seeing the suspect." instead of "I see the suspect."?

 

[Skrej]

It's difficult to conjure up a possible scenario to use it.

 

[EngLearner]

Two friends, Sarah and Alex, are spending the night in an old, eerie house that has been rumored to be haunted. Alex has always been skeptical of the supernatural, while Sarah is more open to strange occurrences. They go in different directions to explore the house. Suddenly, Alex hears Sarah scream. He rushes to the room where she is, and when he gets there, she tells him that she thinks she just saw a ghost. Alex replies, "Oh, come on. You're not seriously telling me you saw a ghost, are you?" He points the flashlight toward the place where she thinks she saw it and says:

A. Look, I'm not convinced that you actually saw anything. I'm not seeing anything now.

The same scenario as above, but now Alex points the flashlight to the place where she thought she saw a ghost and sees something strange. He says:

B. What the hell is that? I thought you didn't see anything, but what I'm seeing now - what the hell is it?

Does the continuous form work in the above two scenarios that I made up?

 

[Dominik92]

Can you link a clip to the Uncharted use, so we can see more clearly what's going on?

Sure, here it is: time 0:40

 

[jutfrank]

In this context, I think the continuous aspect gives a suggestion that the ship may be a hallucination.

 

[Dominik92]

In this context, I think the continuous aspect gives a suggestion that the ship may be a hallucination.

Thank you. Would you still consider present continuous in both halves the neater choice?

 

[jutfrank]

Would you still consider present continuous in both halves the neater choice?

Neater? What do you mean by that? I think what was used was the best choice.

 

[Dominik92]

Neater? What do you mean by that? I think what was used was the best choice.

Please, see the post #4 here. You seemed to agree with emsr2d2 on this.

​

 

[jutfrank]

Please, see the post #4 here. You seemed to agree with emsr2d2 on this.

Oh, yes, sorry. I see how that was misleading.

Let me explain how I'm interpreting this: Although a parallel structure of using the continuous in both halves would indeed create a 'neater' effect, having seen the context I now think the asymmetry has a specific intention here.

We do use the verb 'see' in a continuous aspect when there's a suggestion that the perceived may not be real. Since the woman is asking Nate to confirm the reality of the image, I think there's a nice contrast between Do you see (=Can you make visual confirmation of) what I'm seeing (=what is temporarily apparent before me).

Following this, if she were to say Are you seeing what I'm seeing?, it could suggest that they are both hallucinating, and that's not what she wants to know.

Having said all this, we are overthinking things a little here. At the end of the day, either utterance would have the same pragmatic effect, which is to get Nate to turn around and look in the direction of the ship.