have children playing

@deepcosmos posted:

In a sentence - “It's lovely to have children playing in the garden again.“, which has been quoted from Practical English Usage, the author explains this ‘have’ means ‘experience’.

When I paraphrase above sentence using ‘experience’ instead of ‘have’, which one of following two suggestions is better?;
1. It's lovely to experience children who are playing in the garden again.
2. It's lovely to experience the fact that children are playing in the garden again.

If none is correct, please don’t hesitate to propose with the suitable one.

Hi, deepcosmos—Although paraphrase (2) works better than (1), neither paraphrase works very well. The speaker isn't simply experiencing children with a certain attribute, nor is he experiencing a particular fact. I recommend the following paraphrase instead, in which the state of affairs itself is object.

(3) It's lovely to experience children('s) playing in the garden again.

Hi, David,

Thanks for your nice solution - “It's lovely to experience children('s) playing in the garden again.“, which, I think, means, "Children are playing in the garden again, and it's lovely to experience that event or situation.”

While I also considered that paraphrasing, I thought such a construction with gerund could not distinguish the sentence with simple bare infinitive form - “It's lovely to have children play in the garden again.“ from the original one.

And then, under the paraphrasing with ‘experience’ in the place of ‘have object do/doing’, is there no other way to distinguish above two construction due to the attribute of the verb – ‘experience’?

David, sorry that I’m too inclined to theoretical interest but could I wait for your another answer?

RGDS,

@deepcosmos posted:

Thanks for your nice solution - “It's lovely to experience children('s) playing in the garden again.“, which, I think, means, "Children are playing in the garden again, and it's lovely to experience that event or situation.”

Yes, deepcosmos, that is the meaning, both of the paraphrase and of the original.

@deepcosmos posted:

While I also considered that paraphrasing, I thought such a construction with gerund could not distinguish the sentence with simple bare infinitive form - “It's lovely to have children play in the garden again.“ from the original one.

And then, under the paraphrasing with ‘experience’ in the place of ‘have object do/doing’, is there no other way to distinguish above two construction due to the attribute of the verb – ‘experience’?

One of the reasons English has so many constructions is that each one tends to be special in some way and not one-hundred-percent replaceable by another.

@David, Moderator posted:

Yes, deepcosmos, that is the meaning, both of the paraphrase and of the original.

One of the reasons English has so many constructions is that each one tends to be special in some way and not one-hundred-percent replaceable by another.

Hello, David, always appreciate your good comments enough for me to learn.

Best RGDS,