Learn English – I see a bus come

present-tensereduced-relative-clausesword-choice

If you are at a bus stop, and see a bus coming, which version would you say, 1 or 2?

  1. I see a bus come.
  2. I see a bus coming.

If it is #2, then what does #1 mean exactly?

Best Answer

I see a bus come.

I see a bus coming.

When you say I see a bus come, it means the bus has already come, and now stopped at the stand. When you say I see a bus coming, it means the bus is on its way to the stop, progressing.

  1. We saw Kim leave the bank.

  2. We saw Kim leaving the bank.

Slight as it is, there is a difference in meaning between those sentences.

In sentence #1, we saw the whole event of Kim's leaving the bank, while in sentence #2, we saw a segment of it. Sentence #2 has a progressive meaning in it. The contrast is same as that between Kim left the bank and Kim was leaving the bank.

From - CGEL page no. 1237

Some other example sentences might be helpful -

  1. I saw him play.

  2. I saw him playing.

In sentence #3, it is meant that I saw his playing throughout the match, while in sentence #2, it meant that I saw his playing for sometime during the match. Something like that.

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