I heard someone knock/knocking on the door.

[tzfujimino]

Hello.

I think I know the difference in meaning between the two sentences below:

1. I heard someone knock on the door.
2. I heard someone knocking on the door.

I'd like to check if I understand them correctly.
Please let me use the symbol "・・・" to explain my interpretation of them. (Each dot stands for a knocking sound.)

In #1, I heard someone do this: "・・・" or probably "・・・　・・・"

In #2, I heard someone doing this: "・・・ ・・・ ・・・ ・・・" or probably more.

My interpretation of #2 is that the -ing form there suggests a repeated action. It describes the situation more vividly - I can feel some kind of emergency situation going on.

Am I on the right track?

Thank you.

 

[bhaisahab]

They mean the same to me.

 

[tzfujimino]

Thank you.
May I ask another question?

How about:

1. I heard someone knock on the door. He/She kept doing that for two hours. It was annoying.

2. I heard someone knocking on the door. He/She kept doing that for two hours. It was annoying.

Are these sentences above natural?

Thank you.

 

[tedmc]

No. 2 is better, more consistent with the use of the past continuous tense.

 

[tzfujimino]

Then how about:

1. I saw him eat a frog.
2. I saw him eating a frog.

Do they mean exactly the same?

I'm sorry to be so persistent.
Actually I'm trying to come up with a pair of example sentences that I can use in class. I'd like to teach my students the difference in meaning between the -ing form and the bare infinitive in this construction.

 

[Winwin2011]

Then how about:

1. I saw him eat a frog.
2. I saw him eating a frog.

Do they mean exactly the same?

I'm sorry to be so persistent.
Actually I'm trying to come up with a pair of example sentences that I can use in class. I'd like to teach my students the difference in meaning between the -ing form and the bare infinitive in this construction.

Not a teacher

Hi tzfujimino

hear, see etc + object + verb form

There is often a difference of meaning. After these verbs, an infinitive suggest that we hear or see the whole of an action event: an -ing form suggests we hear or see something in progress, going on. Compare:

I saw her cross the road. (=I saw her cross it from one side to the other.)
I saw her crossing the road. (=I saw her in the middle, on her way across.)

Michael Swan (Practical English Usage)

 

[tzfujimino]

Thank you, Winwin.

Well, that's the only pair that I know.
(I've used them in class, in fact.)

I really appreciate your help.
Thank you again.

 

[Tarheel]

Always remember that everything has a context. Nothing is without a context except for these made-up sentences we use sometimes.

 

[Raymott]

They obviously mean different things to different native speakers, or possibly in different contexts. Most likely the specific verb contributes to any difference.

"I saw him destroy the evidence" means, to me, that the evidence is destroyed.
"I saw him destroying the evidence" does not mean, to me, that all the evidence is destroyed. In fact, one could phrase it this way to specifically mean that you are not asserting that the evidence has been destroyed.
The same applies to eating a frog, or better, say, a horse. Can you eat a horse and still have a horse remaining? I think the answer is less clear if you had only been eating the horse, rather than if you had eaten it.

Does "I saw him destroying the evidence" even make sense if the evidence is not completely destroyed? That depends on the meaning you are giving to "destroy" - or 'eat', etc.

Whether it's 'correct' or not, that's how I use it (I think).

 

[mawes12]

Then how about:

1. I saw him eat a frog.
2. I saw him eating a frog.

I think they both have an adverbial meaning. To me, those sentences can also say "I saw him while he eat a frog." or "I saw him while he was eating a frog."

Not a teacher.

 

[Matthew Wai]

If I recall correctly, I have seen the following pair before.
'I saw him dance.'── The speaker saw the entire dance.
'I saw him dancing.'── The speaker saw him while he was dancing, i.e. in the middle of the dance.

Not a teacher.

 

[Matthew Wai]

"I saw him destroy the evidence" means, to me, that the evidence is destroyed.
"I saw him destroying the evidence" does not mean, to me, that all the evidence is destroyed.

'I saw him destroy the evidence. I failed to stop him, so it was completely destroyed.'
'I saw him destroying the evidence. I stopped him just in time, so it was not completely destroyed.'

Do they make sense? Not a teacher.

 

[Raymott]

'I saw him destroy the evidence. I failed to stop him, so it was completely destroyed.'
'I saw him destroying the evidence. I stopped him just in time, so it was not completely destroyed.'

If you're going to tell the whole story, it doesn't matter what form you use, since the meaning comes less and less from the tense you use for that part. Similarly with "I saw her cross/crossing the road". If you say, "I saw her step onto the road from one side, walk across it, and step onto the pavement on the other side", it hardly matters how you then summarise it.

 

[tzfujimino]

1. I can hear somebody calling my name.
2. I can hear somebody call my name.

I think #2 is wrong.
"I can hear..." suggests/means the action (="calling my name") is going on right now - at a particular moment.
So, "calling" (#1) is correct.

Am I correct?

 

[tedmc]

It could be somebody calling intermittently, in which case "call" works.

 

[tzfujimino]

1. I heard somebody call my name intermittently.
2. I heard somebody calling my name intermittently.

I think they both work in the past tense.
However, I'm not sure if the bare infinitive would work with "I can hear..."

 

[Eckaslike]

I think in traditional BrE they are the same, as bhaisahab has stated. "Knock" in this context is synonymous with "knocking". (I think the confusion is caused because "knock" is both a verb and a noun).

However, my first feeling was more along the lines tzfujimino and Raymott have indicated. The word "knocking" makes the action feel more continuous.

To go back to tzfujimino's original example (with onomatopoeic BrE examples sounds in bold):

1. I heard someone knock on the door. = "Knock" or "Rap" OR more naturally "Knock knock" [hence the jokes starting this way] , "Tap-tap" or "Rap Rap".

2. I heard someone knocking on the door. = "Knock knock knock [or more knocks]" OR "Rat-a-tat-tat".

To me naturally:
1) makes me feel that, they knocked the door just once and stopped.

2) makes me feel that, I heard someone knocking on the door and they went on doing it, perhaps even as long as up to the point where I got up and opened the door to them! For example, I might not want to answer the door and they actually kept rapping it insistently for two minutes until I might eventually get up to ask them them to stop.

I'm not saying, "I'm right", I'm just saying that this is what they mean to me.

 

[Tarheel]

1. I can hear somebody calling my name.
2. I can hear somebody call my name.

I think #2 is wrong.
"I can hear..." suggests/means the action (="calling my name") is going on right now - at a particular moment.
So, "calling" (#1) is correct.

Am I correct?

I think #2 works better in the past tense, thus: "I heard somebody call my name."

What do you think?

 

[UM Chakma]

Thanks tzfujimino for posting this issue which I too have been experiencing for years and to be honest I still have . I see even native speakers have opinions on the case. I learnt from my teacher that the statement you presented works only with noun and gerund, for example; I saw him dance/ I saw him dancing. My teacher actually says that the sentence "I saw him dance/ I saw him dancing" starts as "I saw his dance or dancing" and later "his" becomes "him". This might sound weird but this is what I learnt. But seeing the statement being used in many ways, I still have some doubt. But I am reading all of your opinions and getting the case clear or solved. Please post or let us know what you know about the case and help us to be doubt-free.

 

[Matthew Wai]

... the statement you presented works only with noun and gerund,

I think it is also possible to say 'I saw he danced/was dancing', where 'danced/was dancing' is not a noun/gerund, but I am not a teacher.

It could be somebody calling intermittently, in which case "call" works.

I would say 'I can hear somebody calling my name intermittently'.