FEEL, HEAR, SEE, WATCH, LISTEN, NOTICE + somebody / something + infinitive

[aysaa]

Hi,

FEEL, HEAR, SEE, WATCH, LISTEN, NOTICE + somebody / something + infinitive.

I saw him climb over the fence. (= I saw that he climbed…)

That's ok.

My question is can we use it with negative form?

I saw him not climb over the fence. (= I saw that he didn't climb…).

Thanks...

 

[bhaisahab]

Hi,

FEEL, HEAR, SEE, WATCH, LISTEN, NOTICE + somebody / something + infinitive.

I saw him climb over the fence. (= I saw that he climbed…)

That's ok.

My question is can we use it with negative form?

I saw him not climb over the fence. (= I saw that he didn't climb…).

Thanks...

No.

 

[5jj]

I agree with bhai. You cannot 'see' somebody not-do something, because there is nothing to see.

However, I think that 'I didn't see him climb the fence' can, in the right contexts, be interpreted in two ways.

The first, and most natural is: 'he' climbed the fence, but 'I' did not see this activity. The context is:

A: Why didn't you stop Fred climbing the fence into my orchard?
B: I didn't see him climb the fence,. I haven't got eyes in the back of my head.

The second is: During the time that I was looking at him, he did not climb the fence. The context is:

A: I think that Fred climbed the fence into my orchard this morning.
B: I don't think so. I was keeping a close eye on him, and I didn't see him climb the fence.

 

[aysaa]

What about it?

I noticed him not do his homework.

It may be a little weird sentence, but I want to learn if we can construct a sentence grammatically or not.

 

[5jj]

It would be far more natural to say, "I noticed that he did not do his homework."

 

[aysaa]

But we can construct a sentence like that, is that right?

Or

I couldn't notice him not climbing over the fence.

 

[bhaisahab]

But we can construct a sentence like that, is that right?

Or

I couldn't notice him not climbing over the fence.

That sentence makes no sense.