[Grammar] Present Perfect: Have you seen someone walking

[Dustry]

Hello everybody,

I took a deep look into present perfect today and there is
one thing that I do not understand.

Consider the following sentences:

1. Have you seen anyone driving off?
2. Have you ever seen someone driving a car in the wrong lane?
3. Have you ever seen a celebrity walking down the halls of fame?

Why is there the continuous form (ing) in these sentences?

My research concludes that:

1. is a present perfect continuous in the sense of lately ​like Have you seen anyone driving off (lately).
2. is wrong because it in present perfect the verb should be in simple present like Have you ever seen anyone drive a car in the wrong lane?
3. is wrong as well because the verb should be in simple present as well as in Have you ever seen a celebrity walk down the hall of fame?

Am I being correct or are my findings off the mark?

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[hetzer]

When you want to emphasize the "act of doing something", you can use the continuous form. I believe these three sentences are all correct. Of course, you can use infinitives instead of continuous forms. There would be a subtle difference, though.

 

[5jj]

Welcome to the forum, Dustry. :hi:

This is not particularly to do with the present perfect:

I often see him drive/driving off in the morning.
I saw him drive/driving off this morning.
I am watching him drive/driving off ath this very moment.

If you see/watch/hear/etc someone do something, you see the whole action from beginning to end. If you see/etc someone doing something, you do not necessarily see the whole action, Compare:

I saw Smith run the 100 metres,
I saw Jones running the marathon.

In your sentences you can use either the bare infinitive 'drive, walk' or the gerund 'driving, walking', depending on how you wish to present the situation.

 

[Dustry]

I see.

Thank you hetzer and 5jj.