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A bear goes over the river.

I can see a bear go over the river.

Are the sentences above correct? If the sentence has "can", goes will become to go?

enter image description here

JJ12345
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    It doesn't depend on can, it depends on see. – Glorfindel Dec 05 '16 at 06:32
  • Can explain why "see" make the changes? and what other word will change goes to go? – JJ12345 Dec 05 '16 at 06:38
  • Over sound odd to me as to a non-native speaker. Should not it be across? – SovereignSun Dec 05 '16 at 07:19
  • That sentence is get from Hainemann story book. – JJ12345 Dec 05 '16 at 07:35
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    @SovereignSun over suggests that the bear crosses the river without touching the water, as you can see in the illustration. Across would suggest that the bear traversed the river by swimming. – D. Nelson Dec 05 '16 at 07:37
  • Oh, so it has a slight shade in meaning. – SovereignSun Dec 05 '16 at 07:45
  • @DamkerngT. Thank you. The explanation is much more clearer. – JJ12345 Dec 05 '16 at 08:32
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    @SovereignSun the tree log lies over the river, the bear walks/goes over the river, (without getting wet) across could imply that the bear was in the river and walked from one side of the river to the other. – Mari-Lou A Dec 05 '16 at 09:42
  • @Mari-LouA I got it already. I was finding a similar meaning in the sentence "to go over a street" but there's no such thing, you "go across the street". – SovereignSun Dec 05 '16 at 09:44
  • Verbs of perception (see, hear, watch, feel, etc) use this pattern: {perception verb} {noun-phrase} {bare infinitive|present participle}. She heard the rain strike|striking the tin roof. He watched the weasel slink|slinking through the underbrush. See Araucaria's answer at the link provided above. – TimR Dec 05 '16 at 11:54

1 Answers1

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As Glorfindel noted, this is due to see, not because of can. This is a common construction in English. Other verbs that have the same effect include observe, watch, hear, feel.

There's a good explanation here: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/verb-patterns/hear-see-etc-object-infinitive-or-ing

D. Nelson
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