See & Hear: How to use verbs of perception - English In A Minute

Saskia's going to set us up with everything we need to use the verbs of perception see and hear! Give us 60 seconds and we'll give you the English!

Watch the video, then answer this:
Choose the best option to complete this sentence:
I saw him ___ to his ex-girlfriend.
a) talk
b) talking

☺️Visit our website for the transcript, a summary and more quizzes: http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/course/eiam/unit-1/session-64

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Hi! Saskia for BBC
Learning English here,

and today
I'm going to tell you about

how we use verbs
of perception in English.

There are a number
of these verbs

but I'm just going to
look at two with you now:

see and hear.

When we use these verbs,
this is the form:

First, the verb
of perception.

Then, the object
of the sentence.

Then we have either

the infinitive without to
or the -ing form.

Here's an example:
I heard him go down the stairs.

Or:

I heard him going down the stairs.

There's a slight difference
between these two forms:

When we use the infinitive,
it suggests that we hear or see

the whole action or event.

Using the -ing form suggests that
we hear or see something in progress.

'I saw her cross the street'

means I saw her cross
from one side to the other.

'I saw her crossing the street'

means I saw her in the middle
- on the way across.