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I came across this sentence from R. Murphy's grammar book:

I hear Sarah won some money. What is she going to do with it.

Could you tell me please why 'hear' is in a present form not in past?

user246506
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    It is idiomatic usage, in the sentence *hear* means: *to be told information about something: I hear (that) you're leaving.* http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/hear - I hear, I am told (now) that she won some money (in the past). –  Jul 13 '17 at 09:03
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    It indicates that the source is a rumor (or at least unidentified). It corresponds to "People are saying that Sarah won some money". – michael.hor257k Jul 13 '17 at 09:24
  • Its similar to "They say Sarah won some money" – Doomed Mind Jul 13 '17 at 09:31
  • @Josh - "I am told*..." is generally used when you are describing to someone now* something that you have heard/been told in the recent past (i.e. not 'now'). – Dan Jul 13 '17 at 10:21
  • @Dan - Yes, and that is what "I hear" means in the sentence. –  Jul 13 '17 at 10:23
  • Hear, here, also means not specific (If you heard in the past, when was it? Who knows!) and possibly repeated (this is what am hearing from more than one source.) – Yosef Baskin Jul 13 '17 at 15:09
  • It's an idiomatic, everyday example of the dramatic present. From the Wikipedia article: << More recently, analysts of its use in conversation have argued that it functions not by making an event present, but by marking segments of a narrative, foregrounding events (that is, signalling that one event is particularly important, relative to others) and marking a shift to evaluation (Brinton 1992: 221). >> – Edwin Ashworth Jul 13 '17 at 20:08
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    Possible duplicate of Can I use a present-tense verb when writing about a past event? – Edwin Ashworth Jul 13 '17 at 20:10

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