Usage of infinitive: 'Watching you get hit' vs 'watching you getting hit'

[Ched133]

Which of the following is correct?

Watching you get hit
watching you getting hit

what is the grammar rule when the infinitive is used?

[Molly]

Watching you get hit = possibly one strike only
watching you getting hit = repeated strikes

IMO.

The first example needs an adverb phrase or something to make it clear that there were repeated strikes.

Watching you get hit time and time again.

The adverb phrase doesn't work here. It gives redundancy.


*Watching you getting hit time and time again.

(Unless the adverb phrase refers to repeated viewing, that is. :wink: ).

[Yankee]

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Theoretically, either one could be used. Did you have a specific sentence or scenario in mind? Was there a specific reason that you wrote 'watching' rather than 'watch' or 'watched'?

The word 'watching' suggests that the watching (of something) is or was in progress. It suggests that the watching is ongoing and therefore incomplete, or that the watching was interrupted.

If you said 'I watched you get hit', that would suggest that you watched a complete action (or in this case, it could also be a complete set of actions).

If you said 'I watched you getting hit', that adds a sense of duration, and also suggests that I watched part of the action but not all of it.
.
.

Maybe these examples will be easier to understand:

- I heard him sing the song. --> This suggests that I heard the whole song.

- I heard him singing the song. --> This suggests that I heard only part of the song.
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"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Molly]

[Yankee]

It would be better to start a separate thread for your own questions about and problems with English, Molly.
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_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Molly]

[Yankee]

[Molly]

[Yankee]

[Alan]

Hi,

This constant argy-bargy between the two of you doesn't really help anyone else and is also becoming very boring. Perhaps we should let the pair of you fight it out in a special forum called Argy-bargy.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Yankee]

Thanks for the new idiom, Alan. I hadn't heard that one before. :lol:
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_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Molly]