Hello I have a problem with a phrase

 

 What�s wrong with Ana ? Could hear her .... crying ... last nigth.

 

Why it can�t be ...cry... ?

I could hear her crying/cry

Both are gramatically correct as far as I know 

English Grammar Today, Cambridge

To add to what Lillien wrote:

 

 

I agree with  L. habach  that both are grammatically correct 

 

"I could hear her cry"  About 58,800 results in Google

"I could hear her crying" About 180,000 results in Google

 

However, for some reason I can only imagine myself saying, "I could hear her crying last night"  when talking about it the next morning.

 

I could hear her cry last night reminds me of the same structure of I could hear her sing last night, I could hear her count last night, but then I feel like it means that although I could hear her cry last night, now I cannot (maybe because my hearing aid battery is low and needs to be charged)..

 

Maybe "I could hear her crying" emphasizes what she was doing, and "I could hear her cry" emphasizes my ability to hear. 

 

I would welcome responses from the other members.

 

 

 

 

 

They are both grammatically possible and correct, but imply a different meaning. 

 

Here, the ~ing form (gerund form) emphasises an action that is in progress, or repeated, or not yet completed.

It means I heard/saw/noticed only PART of the action.

So if it helps, sometimes we can also think of it as a long action that isn�t finished. 

So, "I could hear her crying" sounds like she was crying for a long time, again and again, or I didn�t hear her finish crying.
(Maybe she was crying in her room for 10 minutes, then I went to see if she was ok, so I interrupted her crying. 
Maybe she was crying in her room when I went to work. = She was still crying and she wasn�t finished crying when I left.)

 

"I could hear her cry" sounds like I heard the whole, complete, and maybe short action. 
(Maybe we were walking in the forest and she was walking behind me. She tripped on a tree root, and cried out once because she hurt her leg. I heard all of the one sound that she made once.) 

(And cry can also be a noun)


Great short explanation and example here:

 https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/hear-see-etc-object-infinitive-or-ing

Actually, I have a better idea than what I just said! 
I think it�s about the grammar of: can/could/was able to

We can use �could� only to talk about GENERAL ability or long time periods in the past.
When we talk about a SPECIFIC time in the past, we can�t use �could�. We use �couldn�t� and �was able to�.

https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-modals-can-could-able.htm
Scroll down to �could�

Therefore, we can say "I could hear her crying" because I had the general ability to hear her, and so I heard her crying (for a long time).
She was probably crying for a very long time, it felt like hours and hours. So in this case, last night is a long time. So that first sentence is correct.

But if we say "I could hear her cry..."
Really, �cry� is a short action. (Crying is for long/repeated/unfinished)
�could� + a short and very specific time period/action is grammatically incorrect.
So that�s why �I could hear her cry� is less grammatically correct.

Do you agree? :)

Thankyou for this great question to make us think! :)