Could I ask you about 'Passive voice of perception verb'?
There is a sentence, here.
"'I saw him cross the street.".
This sentence is elliptical "to-infinitive".
Which passive construction would be correct in this sentence?
"He was seen cross the street"
or
"He was seen to cross the street" ?
As the grammar book says, "He was seen to cross the street" is correct.
But Americans say that "He was seen crossing the street" is commonly used.
Could anyone explain me, do "He was seen to cross the street" and "He was seen crossing the street." mean the same?
There is a link of the forum. Could you watch this one?
http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/he-was-seen-to-cross-crossing-the-street.475171
I 'm confusing, now. Please give me a correct answer.
Best Answer
After reading the discussion you linked to, I think user, brilliantpink, has a very good answer:
Another aspect that is touched on in that discussion is when reading "He was seen to cross the street", I infer a sense that "He" has a habit of crossing the street.
It resembles the turn of phrase, "He is known to...", which is used to describe a characteristic or habit of someone. For example:
Technically, the two sentences could mean the same thing. However, I assume that if the speaker chooses to use the more unnatural phrasing, they mean to imply something extra.