EnglishClub ESL Forums

Posted: **Mon Oct 25, 2004 1:30 pm**

Sir,

verb like see and feel do not have continous form but I ahve read a sentence

like

I missed seeing the Prime Minister.

What is meaning of the gerund "seeing" here.

Thanks.

Posted: **Tue Oct 26, 2004 12:20 pm**

Don't confuse a progressive tense-form (a FINITE verb-form) with a gerund or present participle - forms that all full verbs possess without exception.

The sentence you cite is rather ambiguous: it could mean either

1) I no longer saw (i.e. met) the Prime Minister, and this made me sad.

or

2) I was unable, on account of lateness, to see (lit.) the Prime Minister.

Either way, 'seeing' is a gerund here.