Watching paint dry

[Phoo]

I ran into an expression "watching paint dry" meaning ultimate boredom.
I am wondering which is more boring....watching paint being dried or watching paint that has already dried.
So this idiom is very ambiguous in its meaning because we never know what it really means.

I think you should say "watching paint drying" either "watching paint dried"
so that we (non native English speakers) will know what it really means.

By the way, I also ran into an expression "watching grass grow"
Is this structure " Watch + noun + verb" OK?
I think it should be said, watching grass growing or if we can use verb here,
at least we need -s at the end of the verb, am I right? :wink:

[Alan]

Hi Phoo,

Watch paint dry as you rightly say means do something really boring. The construction is quite sound:

verb + object + infinitive.

It is possible to use the gerund in this construction or the infinitive as in:

We watched the procession march by or marching by.

As always with these two forms - infinitive and gerund it is a difference in the action of the verb. The infinitive suggests leading to an end or conclusion and the gerund suggests continuation. With your expression - watch paint dry, I think it would stretch the imagination to suggest that you could actually see the drying process happening or indeed with your other example (watch grass grow) that you could actually see the growing process. That's the main reason why in both expressions the infinitive is used.

Hopeful of helping.

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

[Phoo]

Hi Alan,

Thank you for your help.
I was able to get the right image of this expression.
Infinitive/gerund related grammar was always annoying me.

To me, it doesn't sound so boring to watch paint dry,
especially if the paint was painted by myself,
it must rather be kind of fun!

I am also working on improving my vocabulary.
I might ask you some questions about some synonyms later.

Oh, I have one question in my mind now.
One of the synonyms of murder or kill, "liquidate".
I sometimes see this word being used as KILL.
Is this word used only to killing of people
engaged in mafia or some criminal activities?

Phoo

Thank you. :P

[Alan]

Hi Phoo,

You asked:

[Phoo]

Hi Alan,

Thank you for your quick reply.
I checked the etymology of the word and found it interesting.
Killing someone who is causing a problem is like cleaning,
washing with water which is liquid.
This kind of association helps.

I wan to ask you about -ing and infinitive.
Some verbs are followed by -ing, while others are followed by infinitive.
According to my grammar book, the verb "like" can be followed
by both -ing and infinitive.

Ex. I like to play tennis. / I like playing tennis.

My question is:

We can say: "I would like to play tennis."
but not: "I would like playing tennis."

How come "would like" cannot be followed by gerund?
What kind of grammatical disagreements would occur
if we said: "I would like playing tennis." ?

What is the most important criterion for choosing in general?

[Alan]

Hi Phoo,

You ask about the difference in use between gerund and infinitive after a main verb. As you know some verbs can take either, some only one or the other. When you have a choice, the main difference is one of specificity. When I say: I like swimming - I am making a general remark indicating that one of the things I like is swimming. But when I say I like to swim in the summer when it's really warm - I am talking about something specific and particular. The difference is slight. On the other hand there are verbs that will take either and there is a different meaning in their use. If I say: Try to work harder - that indicates make an effort to work harder. But if I say: Try working harder - that indicates do this as an experiment and see what happens.

To come to your particular question: like to play tennis/like playing tennis but only I would like to play tennis and not with the ing form. Again this clearly comes down to specificity. Let's take an example: You are in a shop and are looking at a number of television sets. You can't decide which one to buy. You say: I like this one, I like that one but I would like the one over there. Thus I would like to buy that one. Would like is followed by an infinitive because you have chosen/decided.

Hopeful of helping.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Passive Voice

[Torsten]

[Jamie (K)]

You can also kill an idea or a project.

"The boss doesn't like him, so at meetings he kills his ideas without even discussing them."

"We ran into budget problems, so we killed the project."

[Alan]

Hi Torsten, Phoo, Jamie,

Just had a brainstorm and thought you'd like to see the result:

Mike: What’s the matter with you?
Sue: Oh, it’s my feet. They’re killing me!

Mike: Well, there’s no rush. We’ve got time to kill.
Sue: I thought we’d get into trouble if we were late.

Mike: It’s not as bad as that. Although last time we were late I remember that look on my Mother’s face.
Sue: You mean if looks could kill …

Mike: Precisely. She wasn’t exactly killing herself with laughter when we arrived.
Sue: Still, she does have a kind heart, you must admit.

Mike: Well, she doesn’t exactly kill us with kindness, does she?
Sue: I think you’re being unfair. Remember that time when you helped her with her tax problems?

Mike: You mean that celebration meal she cooked for us.
Sue: Yes, precisely. She killed the fatted calf then didn’t she?

Mike: Yes, that’s true. But you know why. It’s because I’m so useful to her.
Sue: So you’re saying she’s not going to kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

Mike: I couldn’t have said it better myself. Why are you looking at me like that? I’m really curious.
Sue: Well, you know what happened to the cat? Curiosity killed it, didn’t it?

Mike: Go on tell me what you’re thinking.
Sue: I was thinking we could kill two birds with one stone.

Mike: Go on. I’m listening.
Sue: We could phone up and say we can’t come because you’re working out a way to make a killing with her investments.

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Prepositions

[Torsten]

Hi Alan, I guess we could call this one a killer conversation piece.

TOEIC listening, question-response: What was your former occupation?