Representing thinking, perceiving, liking and desiring

Using verb patterns to represent perceptions

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Verb followed by an object and the bare infinitive

The verbs in this category can be followed by an object, and a bare infinitive clause which represents the event which is watched, noticed, felt, etc:

I felt it go through the skin and muscle quite smoothly with no problem at all.

Note that in this example, two clauses are being treated as one, ie "I felt it" + "it went through the skin and muscle ..."

Here is a list of verbs which can be followed by an object and the bare infinitive:

feel  observe  hear see notice watch

Note that these verbs are not normally used in the passive voice:

The sword was felt [by me] to go through the skin and muscle quite smoothly with no problem at all. 

To see a relevant teacher's question about the patterns associated with an event, click on this icon  . Note that the verbs in the list above can also be followed by an object and the -ing form with very little change in meaning:

I felt it going through the skin and muscle quite smoothly with no problem at all.

Introduction
Participants associated with perception verbs
Grammatical patterns associated with the phenomenon
Verb followed by a noun group
Verb followed by a that clause
Verb followed by an object and the bare infinitive
Verb followed by an object and the -ing form
Verb followed by a wh-clause
Verb followed by an if/whether clause
Verb followed by an object and an adjective/-ed participle clause
Ellipsis with perception verbs
Present simple v present continuous tense
A note on the order of participants