Verbs of senses (Part 1)

Many students have trouble choosing the correct form of the verb in the following sentence:

(1) We heard her scream/*screamed for help.

Because of the past tense verb heard, students who are not careful will choose the past tense screamed instead of the bare infinitive scream (or the -ing form screaming).

A similar mistake is often made with the verb make:

(2) They made me wait/*waited.

Again, the wrong verb form waited is chosen because of its connectedness with the past tense made.

So why is the past tense form of the verb unacceptable after verbs such as heard or made? Well, the reason is the verb is preceded by a special class of verbs. Words such as heard fall under verbs of senses while words such as made are called causative verbs.

After verbs of senses, only the bare infinitive or the -ing form of the verb is acceptable:

Subject + Sense verb + Object +  Infinitive / Present participle

(3) We watched them play/playing.
(4) I saw him climb/climbing over the fence.

With causative verbs such as make and help, only the bare infinitive is allowed:

Subject + Causative verb + Object +  Infinitive

(5) She made me laugh.
(6) I helped her complete the puzzle.

In Part 2, we'll look at the structure of the clause after the sense verb or causative verb and explain why only the bare infinitive or the -ing form of the verb is permitted.