Grammatical pattern: VERB + somebody/something + PRESENT PARTICIPLE

In the sentence “I watched them parading down the street,” the verb is “watched,” and the present participle is “parading.”  A present participle looks exactly like a gerund (verb + “-ing”), but a present participle is a verb form that functions as an adjective to describe a person or thing in action.  In this sentence, “I watched them parading down the street,” the present participle “parading” describes “them”  in action at the time that “I watched them.”

Verbs that commonly follow the pattern [VERB + somebody/something + PRESENT PARTICIPLE]

catch, discover, feel, find, get, have, hear, keep, leave, like, notice, observe, perceive, see, send, sense, set, sight, smell, spy, start, watch, witness

Additional examples of the pattern [VERB + somebody/something + PRESENT PARTICIPLE]

She hit the ball and sent it flying over the back fence.

He tried to keep the conversation going.

The police sighted the suspect running across the field.

I felt the snake moving across my foot.

They found the child hiding in the closet.