A man in a buffet restaurant suddenly recalls something irritating and frustrating, so the man gets anxious because of it and he starts to move around in a circle mumbling by himself.
After several seconds of doing that, the man pulls himself together and realizes he is acting weird and stops moving and asks himself this question.
"Oh, my god. I am acting weird. I wonder if a lot of people have seen me act weird."
"Oh, my god. I am acting weird. I wonder if a lot of people have seen me acting weird."
"Oh, my god. I am acting weird. I wonder if a lot of people saw me act weird."
"Oh, my god. I am acting weird. I wonder if a lot of people saw me acting weird."
Which would be nicer here and why is it? Any explanations would be appreciated. 🙂
Best Answer
In this context, the use of the present perfect ("have seen") indicates a life experience. In other words, the man is asking if anyone has had the experience of seeing his odd behavior at anytime in the past. Since the context is related to the single, most recent incident, this doesn't make sense, and you should not use the present perfect.
"Saw me act weird" indicates that they saw the entire action, and so in context it sounds like this is something he does all the time, either now or in the past. It's not wrong but also not quite right for your intended meaning.
Meanwhile, "saw me acting weird" (the present progressive) indicates an action in progress, and sounds more like he's referring to the most recent incident.
So, to answer your question:
works best in this context. In a different context, any of the others could be correct.