March 3, 2023
Question
“I had a cute cat watch me play the drums.”
This sentence was written by a native English teacher while he corrected a Chinese person’s English writing.
I have two questions about this sentence: 1, as “had” is in past tense, why is “watch” in present simple tense? 2, according to my knowledge in English, shouldn’t “watch” be “to watch”，or “watching?” I don’t dare doubt a native English speaker’s English, but I can’t understand this English sentence. I am really confused.
Correction Settings
“I had a cute cat watch me play the drums.”
Feedback
“Watch” is in the infinitive form, not the simple present form.
- I had him watch.
- I had him sing.
- I had him run.
“Watch,” “sing” and “run” are all in the infinitive form.
Grammatically, “had” in your example is being used like “let” or “made.” You could change “had” to “let” or “made” and the sentence would still be grammatically correct, although the meaning would change:
- I had a cute cat watch me play.
- I MADE a cute cat watch me play.
- I LET a cute cat watch me play.
> 2, according to my knowledge in English, shouldn’t “watch” be “to watch”，or “watching?”
When “had,” “made” and “let” are used in this way, “to” isn’t added in front of “watch,” even though “watch” is in the infinitive form. But you could change “watch” to “watching” without changing the meaning of the sentence very much:
- I had a cute cat watch me play.
- I had a cute cat WATCHING me play.
Question
“I had a cute cat watch me play the drums.”
This sentence was written by a native English teacher while he corrected a Chinese person’s English writing.
I have two questions about this sentence: 1, as. If “had” is in past tense, why is “watch” in present simple tense?
I have two questions about this sentence: 1. If “had” is in past tense, why is “watch” in present simple tense?
2, a. According to my English knowledge in English, shouldn’t “watch” be “to watch”， or “watching?” I don’wouldn't dare doubt a native English speaker’s English, but I can’t understand this English sentence.
2. According to my English knowledge, shouldn’t “watch” be “to watch” or “watching?” I wouldn't dare doubt a native English speaker’s English, but I can’t understand this English sentence.
I am really confused.
Feedback
When saying 'I had' this way, you are setting yourself up as the topic of the event that happened to you which would otherwise be the second subject (the cat.)
*A cute cat* watched me play drums.
*I* had + a cute cat watch *me* play drums.
As to why it's in the present present tense, I don't know. It's an unwritten rule that 'subject had a noun + present verb + object pronoun' is the way it is.
'To watch' doesn't fit because it isn't apart of I had. 'I had to watch the news' means you needed to watch the news like a chore or you couldn't resist watching the news.
'I had a cat watching me play piano' is correct and is similar to the original sentence. To make it easier it's kind of like this: I had ± a cat (who was) watching me play piano.
March 3, 2023
I had a cute cat TO watch me…? Thank you so much!
March 3, 2023
I had a cute cat TO watch me…? Thank you so much!
Haha, you're welcome! I'm sorry if the 'to watch' part wasn't clear enough.
Using 'to' in the sentence is the problem. It would sound like you ordered the cat to watch you on purpose. Or you have a cat (like a pet or something) for the purpose of watching you (like you are grateful for it being there for you.) Neither make sense.
March 3, 2023
Okay, thank you very much!
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Question This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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“I had a cute cat watch me play the drums.” This sentence has been marked as perfect! This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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This sentence was written by a native English teacher while he corrected a Chinese person’s English writing. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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I have two questions about this sentence: 1, as “had” is in past tense, why is “watch” in present simple tense?
I have two questions about this sentence: 1 |
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2, according to my knowledge in English, shouldn’t “watch” be “to watch”，or “watching?” I don’t dare doubt a native English speaker’s English, but I can’t understand this English sentence.
2 |
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I am really confused. This sentence has been marked as perfect! |
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