I often hear him sing.

[touchstone]

--Do you often hear Tom ___ in his room?
--Yes. Now you can hear him ____ in his room.
A. sing; singing
B. sing; sing
C. singing; sing
D. singing; singing

The answer key is A. I think D is also OK. In some reference books, they say you should say ‘I often hear him sing’ because there is a ‘often’ in the sentence. I wonder if that is true.
Thanks.

 

[tzfujimino]

I agree with you that D is also OK.
(Not a native speaker of English)

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think it has nothing to do with 'often' but has to do with 'hear' being a verb of perception.

 

[touchstone]

Thanks for your replies, friends.
A reference book says if you hear intentionally or on purpose, “I often hear somebody do something” is spoken more than “I often hear somebody doing something”. I wonder if that is true.
Thanks again.

(The book is named A Dictionary of English Usage by Ge Chuangui, Shanghai Translation Press.)

 

[Raymott]

If you purposefully attend to a sound, it's called listening, not hearing.

 

[touchstone]

[FONT=&#23435]Thanks very much for your patience and replies, Piscean and Raymott.[/FONT]
[FONT=&#23435]I think I mistranslated what the author said. Now I think the author want to say [/FONT]“[FONT=&#23435]I often listen to somebody do something[/FONT]”[FONT=&#23435] is spoken more than [/FONT]“[FONT=&#23435]I often listen to somebody doing something[/FONT]”[FONT=&#23435] if you do it intentionally or on purpose. Is that true?[/FONT]
[FONT=&#23435]Thanks again.[/FONT]

 

[emsr2d2]

I don't think that's true.

I often listen to my cousin play the guitar.
I often listen to my cousin playing the guitar.

I'd use them equally.

 

[Matthew Wai]

If you purposefully attend to a sound, it's called listening, not hearing.

I found the following definition at http://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/hear

hear
2 LISTEN TO SOMEBODY/SOMETHING [transitive] to listen to what someone is saying, the music they are playing etc

 

[Raymott]

Yes, Matthew, there are some contexts where you can use 'hear' for 'listen'.