Difference in meaning between the sentences

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1. I heard the people sing.
2. I heard the people sang.

I know the first sentence is correct. I think the second one is also correct. If I am correct about the second sentence, may I know the difference in meaning between the sentences?

Thanks.

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Type: Question • Score: 4 • Views: 1,688 • Replies: 38

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@tanguatlay,

the 2nd sentence is incorrect...

2 Replies

@Region Philbis,

Region Philbis wrote:

the 2nd sentence is incorrect...

Thanks, Region.
It surprises me that the second sentence, "I heard the people sang", is incorrect. I remember my teacher telling me it is fine, but I don't remember what he said was the meaning of the sentence. That means that I was taught wrongly.

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@tanguatlay,

these are all correct...

The people sang.
I hear the people singing.
I heard the people sing.
I heard the people singing.

conclusion -- english is weird!

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@Region Philbis,

Disagree.

"I heard the people sang" is quite okay, in the sense of

"I heard that the people sang every week in church, but now they don't"

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@McTag,

i don't think it works without the word "that"...

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@McTag,

McTag wrote:

Disagree.
"I heard the people sang" is quite okay, in the sense of
"I heard that the people sang every week in church, but now they don't"

Thanks, McTag.

Is 'that' needed to make the sentence grammatically correct, as stated by Region?

1 Reply

@Region Philbis,

McTag: "I heard the people sang" is quite okay, in the sense of

"I heard that the people sang every week in church, but now they don't"

=================

Quote:

i don't think it works without the word "that"...

Does,

I heard the people used to sing

need a 'that'?

1 Reply

@JTT,

Quote:

Does,

I heard the people used to sing

need a 'that'?

no...

but simply saying
"I heard the people sang."
is incorrect on it's own, i think...

0 Replies

"I heard the people sang" is ambiguous, and in and of itself, written as it is, it is a sentence fragment.

1 Reply

Question: What did the people do?

Answer: I don't know for sure. I heard the people sang.

1 Reply

@tanguatlay,

Quote:

Is 'that' needed to make the sentence grammatically correct, as stated by Region?

No, I just put it in to make the meaning clear.

other examples:

I heard he was sick.

I heard he sang like Bing Crosby.

I heard he'd left town.

No "that" required.

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What a waste of time traditional grammar often is !

Here we have (yet again) a student of English playing with the tenses of a verb "to sing" in a comparative couplet with respect to their SURFACE STRUCTURE, when in reality such a comparison never takes place outside the EFL classroom. The second sentence is perfectly correct to a native speaker because in terms of transformational grammar it maps to the DEEP STRUCTURE sentence containing the word "that". Alternatively in terms of discourse analysis the second sentence is perfectly acceptable as a retort to a question like " What did the people do yesterday ?,

Many EFL questions are generated by a pedagogical wish for "grammar" to be "prescriptive" but often such questions never arise to native speakers.

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Quote:

1. I heard the people sing.
2. I heard (that) the people sang.

1. i literally heard them singing with my own ears.
2. someone told me they were singing.

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@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

Question: What did the people do?

Answer: I don't know for sure. I heard the people sang.

The sentence fragment would be made a sentence by the addition of "that": I heard that the people sang.

Spoken in context, its meaning would be understood. Written alone, it isn't so clear and it's ungrammatical.

2 Replies

@InfraBlue,

Quote:

Spoken in context, its meaning would be understood. Written alone, it isn't so clear and it's ungrammatical.

Jesus, don't let JTT hear you say that!

CONVERSATION, IN WRITING, PART OF A BOOK:

He: So what did the people do...did they sing or did they just sit there not making a soundt? Did you get the scoop on that?

She: I heard the people sang.

2 Replies

@InfraBlue,

Quote:

Written alone, it isn't so clear and it's ungrammatical.

No it's ******* not ungrammatical.

2 Replies

@McTag,

Quote:

No it's ******* not ungrammatical.

Shouldn't the punctuation mark at the end of your sentence by an exclamation point? Not that the punctuation you used is ungrammatical or anything like that.

0 Replies

@McTag,

I'm thrown off by my understanding that British humour is generally understated.

That fragment needs a "that" to be grammatical.

0 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

Quote:
Spoken in context, its meaning would be understood. Written alone, it isn't so clear and it's ungrammatical.

Jesus, don't let JTT hear you say that!

Yeah, he can be anal about his prescriptive anti-prescriptivism.

Quote:

CONVERSATION, IN WRITING, PART OF A BOOK:

He: So what did the people do...did they sing or did they just sit there not making a soundt? Did you get the scoop on that?

She: I heard the people sang.

Well yeah, if you're writing dialog.

1 Reply

Difference in meaning between the sentences

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