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I am an English instructor from Korea. I understand that perceptual verbs in a five-element sentence structure can take a bare infinitive or a present participle as the object complement. Can "find" be included within the scope of perceptual verbs? If it can, what would be some examples? I am asking because I want to provide my students with accurate information.

In this context, find is understood to mean "to perceive or regard something as being a certain way."

Further Clarification:

As requested, here are additional examples of five-element sentence structures:

  1. Verbs that take a noun as the object complement: call, name, make

Example: I named him Peter.

  1. Verbs that take an adjective as the object complement: get, find, keep, make

Example: I found the test difficult.

  1. Perceptual verbs (object complement can be a bare infinitive or a participle):

Example: I saw her dance / dancing.

  1. Causative verbs (object complement is a bare infinitive, or a past participle if the object is passive):

Example: I had him do this homework.

Further Edit:

I deeply agree with the sentiment expressed by many of you that there can be no absolute rules in language. However, as an English instructor preparing students for exams, I am compelled to teach grammar rules. (In Korea, middle school English exams often test how the complement of a verb changes depending on the verb in five-element sentence structures. For example, name is taught as a verb that takes a noun as its object complement.)

The reason I initially posted this question is that I have been teaching find as a verb that takes an adjective as its object complement in five-element structures.

However, one of my students shared that their school teacher stated that find is included in the category of perceptual verbs.

I wanted to verify whether I might have been teaching this incorrectly, and if so, make the necessary corrections. That is why I am seeking your opinions. I, too, wonder why find could be considered a perceptual verb.

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    It seems to me that the category "perceptual verbs" or "verbs of perception" draws its borders around a concept rather than a function; it's not mainly about grammatical mechanics but about semantic notion: Ways to talk about our senses. By that token, maybe "find can be a 'perceptual verb' if used to talk about physical sense," like "I entered the darkened room and found the light switch with my hand."
    – Andy Bonner
    Commented Nov 20 at 17:43
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    Hm, maybe you should edit to mention what "perceptual verbs" means to you; I was unfamiliar with the phrase and that's the impression I got from a few minutes of research. I find the phrase "verbs of perception" used more often than "perceptual verbs," but the latter is used in this paper that seems to have a lot to say on the topic.
    – Andy Bonner
    Commented Nov 20 at 18:46
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    You should also clarify whether the question is about the literal sense of "find" ("I was looking for my keys and found them in the kitchen") or more figurative senses ("I find it difficult to drive at night").
    – Barmar
    Commented Nov 20 at 20:06
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    Please edit the question to give the readers some examples of such five element sentence structures.
    – Araucaria - Him
    Commented Nov 21 at 13:39
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    @AndyBonner The class of perception verbs in English are so-called because they share certain grammatical characteristics and happen to describe perceptions. However, they are a grammatical class. Not all verbs that describe perceptions are members of the famous class of perception verbs.
    – Araucaria - Him
    Commented Nov 21 at 13:50

1 Answer 1

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The class of perception verbs in English are generally so-called because they share certain grammatical characteristics and happen to describe perceptions. However, they constitute a grammatical class, not a semantic one. Not all verbs that semantically describe perceptions are members of the famous grammatical class of perception verbs. Is find a member of this class? Does it have the same kind of grammar as verbs such as see, watch, hear, feel, smell or observe?

No, the verb find does not pattern like a perception verb. Consider:

  • She heard her lover leave the building.
  • Can you watch them operate?
  • I felt it move.
  • She smelled it burn.

The plain forms of the verbs above are all perfectly grammatical after the perception verbs hear, watch feel and smell. However the following sentence with find is ungrammatical:

  • I found him juggle the bottles.

It looks as though find is not a perception verb in English.

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    You should probably distinguish between the class of perception verbs (within certain structures) and perception verbs in general (such as perceive, not licensing one or both structures), as you did in your comment, if I understand it correctly, at the end of >600 words (??) not all will read.
    – HippoSawrUs
    Commented Nov 21 at 15:36
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    Yes; there needs to be a stipulative definition of 'perception verbs' here making it clear that this is a syntactic rather than a semantic classification, and showing some verbs that, while definitely verbs that describe perceptions, fail to qualify for this set. Note the dictionary definition Joshua gives: 'Perceptual verbs, also known as sensory verbs, are verbs that describe the process of perceiving or experiencing something through the senses (e.g., see, hear, feel, taste, smell).'
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Nov 21 at 16:24
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    The normal everyday examples "leave the building", "watch them operate", "felt it move", "smelled it burn”, all make grammatical and semantic sense. But "found him juggle the bottles" is bizarre to say the least, so of course we'd find (!) it odd. What about this example: "I found him waiting outside". Why is it different from "I saw him waiting outside”
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Nov 21 at 18:00
  • @Mari-Lou A It seems strange that 'perception verbs' are defined (a stipulative definition) by some by their ability to undergo complex catenation involving both an infinitive or ing-form. Causative verbs take an infinitive, as in 'I made/let him stay' (or more typically, a to-infinitive, 'I forced/allowed him to attend'). We need an answer with reputable references.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Nov 21 at 18:53
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    @Mari-LouA, Edwin, Lambie Despite OP's wording, there's nothing unusual about taking an -ing form. There's hundreds of verbs that do that, as all of you know: I like watching the birds eating the worms, or I want Lambie doing the BBQ, or She hates Edwin fussing over the underpants or This involved Mari-Lou repainting the Cistine Chapel ceiling. The perception verbs are famous because outside of the modal verbs and the holy quadrinity of help, let, make, have only the perception verbs take plain forms of the verb/ bare infinitives. Therein lies the lesson, as it were.
    – Araucaria - Him
    Commented Nov 22 at 0:49

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