I’d watch them play Frisbee.

[Pink_Flower]

I was just a neighborhood kid. There was no running water in our house. Or electricity. So in the evenings, when I came home from school, I’d sit out near the road. Across the street there was a hotel where foreigners stayed. I’d watch them play Frisbee. I’d watch them buy African souvenirs from the street vendors.

If the author said " I’d watch them playing Frisbee and buying African souvenirs from the street vendors." , then what would that mean? I notice something the -ing form of verb are used with notice, see, watch, hear.


Source:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CAGP2DcHJM-/

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

There might be a grammatical or linguistic difference. If there is, it's too subtle for this boy. For practical purposes, they mean the same thing.

Maybe someone else can identify a difference.

 

[GoesStation]

There is a difference. Assuming he has native-level fluency, the author would have used playing and buying if he'd been thinking about them as continuous, ongoing activities. Using play and buy means he was thinking of these as discrete, repeated activities.

Opening the link revealed that my niece is one of nearly a million Instagram users who have liked the linked post.