people watch dogs race vs people watch dogs racing

Hi,

In the following sentences, which one is the correct sentence? or are they all correct sentences?

(a) people watch dogs race

(b) people watch dogs racing

Well, I actually found the sentence (a) in the newspaper yesterday. So I believe it must be a correct sentence. However, I first thought "dogs race" is a noun.

But then, I found out that it wasn't "dogs' race". It was missing " ' " (the single quotation) after the word "dog". Which may mean the verb "watch" might have the same grammatical function(?) as "help" or "make" (e.g. I can help you improve your english). That's what I thought. As far as I know, you don't really say, " I can help you 'improving' your english" or "his mum made him 'cleaning up' his room", for example. (However, even informally can you say like that?)

But with the verb "watch"( which I am thinking now, it may belong to the verb group of "see, look and so on"(verbs that describe sensitivity), would it be possible to have sentences like the sentence (b)? or are they ( the sentence (a) and (b) ) both correct sentences but have different meanings?

For example,

(a) people watched dogs race from its start to the end. 

(b) people watched only some parts of the dog race and they may have left before it finished.

Thanks in advance.

Clive wrote:

Hi, (a) people watched dogs race from its start to the end. (from the start to the finish.)  Best wishes, Clive

In "he watched the wolves race across the tundra", did he see the whole race?

Clive wrote:

Hi, What do you think? Best wishes, Clive

I think we have no idea if he did, out of context. Same with "he watched dogs race".

Clive wrote:

Hi again, I'd like to change the example to something bit more commonplace, if you don't mind. I agree that much depends on context. However, do you get the feeling that both of these have the same meaning? I saw him do his homework I saw him doing his homework Best wishes again, Clive

No, for me they have different meaning. It's not the grammar but the action being discussed, combined with the context/cotext, that helps us define difference or no difference.

He saw her fly across the sky.

He saw her flying across the sky.

He saw her slap the dog.

He saw her slapping the dog. (Could be repeatedly.)

People watch dogs race.

People watch dogs racing. (Could be every Saturday.)