oxford_guide_to_english_grammar

PAGE 173
140 Verb + object + participle
5 Result
An active participle after the main clause can express result.
They pumped waste into the river, killing all the fish.
The film star made a dramatic entrance, attracting everyone's attention.
6 Conditions
A participle clause can express a condition.
All being well, we should be home about six.
(= If all is well,...)
We plan to eat outside, weather permitting.
Taken daily, vitamin pills can improve your health.
7 Idioms
We can use a participle clause in some idiomatic phrases which comment on a
statement or relate it to a previous one.
Strictly speaking, you can't come in here unless you're a club member.
Things don't look too good. But having said that, there are still grounds for
optimism.
I'm going on a computer course next week. ~ Talking of computers, ours broke
down yesterday.
140 Verb + object + participle
l The pattern I saw you doing it
a
b
I saw two men cutting down a tree.
We heard you arguing with your brother.
Can you smell something burning?
We can use an object + active participle after these verbs of perception: see, watch,
notice, observe; hear, listen to; feel; smell.
A verb of perception can also take an object + bare infinitive.
I saw two men cut down a tree.
We didn't notice anyone leave the building.
A bare infinitive means the complete action, but the participle means action for a
period of time, whether or not we see the whole action.
I saw them cut the tree down. It didn't take long.
(= I saw them. They cut it down.)
I saw them cutting the tree down as I went past.
(= I saw them. They were cutting it down.)
But when we talk about a short action, we can use either pattern.
Bernard watched the horse jump/jumping the fence.
We didn't notice anyone leave/leaving the building.
NOTE
We can use these passive forms.
We saw the lions fed. We saw the lions being fed.