Grammatical problem

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

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sayena
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Grammatical problem

Post by sayena »

I have a question about the sentence below.

First, I saw you washing your car this morning.
Why they don't use To Be verbs in this sentence? for example, Second, I saw you were washing your car this morning.
I want to know about the grammar of the first sentence
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Alan
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Re: Grammatical problem

Post by Alan »

Both

(A) I saw you washing your car.

and

(B) I saw (that) you were washing your car.

are possible, but differ both in structure and - albeit only slightly - in meaning.

The structural difference is that the object of the verb 'saw' in (A) is the pronoun 'you', which stands in apposition to the participial phrase 'washing your car' (= you WHO WERE washing...), whereas in (B) the object is the entire underlined clause.

The (slight) difference in meaning is that in (A) the action is noted simply as an observed event, while in (B) it is noted as a perceived fact.
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