My grammar book says that if you saw the complete action you use do/get/drive: "I saw him fall off the wall." Otherwise you use -ing: "I saw him standing at the bus stop."
A native American speaker said that he doesn’t agree with that and there is no difference whether you use -ing or not. He said that particularly in these situations I can use either verb without affecting the meaning:
—How do you know I took the money? —I know it because I saw you take / taking it.
—How did the woman fall? —I don’t know. I didn’t see her fall / falling.
He couldn’t come up with a situation where this rule makes sense. But I tried to come up with such situation and he said that in this case it can be true.
I saw him eat the whole plate of pasta.
He ate everything that was on the plate. I saw him finish it.
I saw him eating the whole plate of pasta.
I saw how he was eating from a plate full of pasta. But I’m not sure whether he ate everything or not. I didn’t see him finish it.
Please comment on what has been said. And give your opinion about this rule.
Answer
Both you and your informant are correct in different circumstances.
The difference lies in the character of the verb involved. With a telic verb—one which includes an end, a specific goal or point of completion—there is a marked difference between the simple form and the progressive form: the progressive form marks the action as incomplete. Eat, fall, take are telic verbs.
With an atelic verb, which does not include an end, there is no practical difference. Stand, run, think are ordinarily atelic verbs (although in some circumstances they may be ‘recategorized’).
See the tag-wiki entry on aspect.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Graduate , Answer Author : StoneyB on hiatus
