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One day I noticed that my wife was going through my phone trying to get some phone numbers from it.
And then I heard him talking to my dad on the phone and that was strange, because normally I would know if they were talking to each other.
So I didn't know what was going on.
Hello and welcome to Learning English Grammar.
I'm Beth.
I'm Neil.
We've just heard Phil and Pippa talking about situations where someone around them was doing something unusual and they didn't know why.
In this episode we'll learn language we can use to describe noticing seeing, hearing and watching someone do something.
We often use these constructions when we're curious about what is happening.
So, Beth, have you ever noticed something unusual, maybe a secret or surprise?
I have actually.
I was in a restaurant with my friend and she ordered chicken, which sounds OK, but she was vegetarian.
So I was very confused.
And it turned out that my other friend who lives in Canada was coming back, and she came back as a surprise.
What a nice surprise.
What about you, Neil?
Well, once I was on holiday in Barcelona and I walked around the corner and I saw this guy who looked exactly like one of my best friends, but I knew it couldn't be him because he worked in Japan.
But the closer I got, I realised it actually was him and he'd come back from Japan for a holiday.
Oh wow, crazy!
OK, well I have been speaking to Pippa and Phil about times they've been surprised.
And they both noticed people doing something unusual before the surprise.
Let's listen now.
And, as you listen, pay attention to the language they use for noticing what people around them are doing.
That's unusual.
So a couple of years ago, my boyfriend.
At the time I noticed that he was acting a bit strangely and I didn't know why.
And then I heard him talking to my dad on the phone.
And that was strange because normally I would know if they were talking to each other.
So I didn't know what was going on.
Anyway, it turned out he was planning to propose and that was what the big secret was.
One day I noticed that my wife was going through my phone trying to get some phone numbers from it.
I saw she was writing them down and I didn't understand why that was.
What I hadn't properly noticed is of course this was about two weeks before my birthday.
We had to meet near Aldgate station.
And so we did.
And then we walked and there was a restaurant near there that was nice.
I've been there before.
I really liked it.
As we were getting closer I noticed that actually in the big long queue were some of my friends from school.
It was really nice.
And I was completely surprised.
I didn't suspect anything until I noticed them there waiting in the queue.
So I definitely heard the word noticed a lot.
Pippa said I noticed that he was acting a bit strangely.
And Phil said I noticed them there waiting in the queue.
So what's going on with the grammar?
Here to explain is our grammar guru, Georgie.
Hello, I'm here to explain the grammar we often use with words like notice, see and hear.
Great, so let's start with these verbs.
What's special about them?
Well, these are verbs of the senses.
The sense of sight uses the verb see, hearing uses the verb hear, and when you notice something, you use lots of senses.
And what do we follow these verbs with?
We follow them with objects like the personal pronouns him or her, or a regular object like the snake or he or she.
Then we can add an ing verb.
Listen to this sentence from Pippa again.
And then I heard him talking to my dad on the phone Right.
Heard him talking.
She said I heard.
That's the sense verb.
Him.
That's the object.
Talking.
That's the ing verb.
And then to my dad on the phone.
Exactly.
And this structure is used by Phil as well, this time with the verb see in the past simple form saw.
I saw she was writing them down.
It's the same kind of structure.
He said I saw, that's the sense verb.
She, that's the object, and then was writing them down.
That's the ing verb.
Is it possible to say I saw her was writing them down?
It's not.
It has to be, I saw she was writing them down.
When the object is a personal pronoun like him, her or them, we don't use the verb be.
So you can say, I saw her writing them down or I saw she was writing them down.
Now, I also noticed that some of the sentences had the word that in them.
I noticed that my wife was going through my phone.
So what's going on here?
Well, the word that is optional between notice, hear and see and the object if it's not a personal pronoun.
So you can say, I noticed he was acting strangely or I noticed that he was acting strangely.
And there's no difference in meaning.
OK, now earlier Beth told us about her friend who she saw order chicken, but she's vegetarian.
We use the infinitive when the speaker sees, hears or notices the whole event.
Beth saw her friend order chicken.
Ordering food doesn't take long.
She saw the whole action.
To compare this, we use the ing form when the action we saw, heard or noticed was in progress, happening at the time, and not completed.
Great.
Thanks, Georgie.
Goodbye.
OK, we're going to play a game to practice these verbs plus an object plus the ING form.
Neil, I'm going to start a sentence and you need to complete it with whatever you like.
OK?
OK.
OK.
I noticed... A huge snake slithering along the ground.
Oh, gosh.
Next one.
We saw...
Somebody talking to a police officer.
They heard... A crowd of people chanting.
Oh, what were they chanting?
Come on, come on, come on.
Wow, OK.
Have you ever noticed people doing something unusual?
What have you seen and heard?
Email us at learningenglish at bbc.co.uk That's it for this episode.
We've learnt that after noticed, saw and heard, the verb is in the ing form.
And we've learnt that Phil had a surprise birthday.
We weren't invited, were we?
No.
We'll be back next week to learn some more grammar tips.
In the meantime, you can test what you've learned in this episode with the worksheet on our website.
And go to our website for even more grammar practice.
Goodbye for now.
Bye.
