[thaumasiotes]

> I would suggest that choosing "see" when you mean "watch" is a vocabulary error, not a grammar error - you picked the wrong verb, but didn't use it in an ungrammatical way (eg wrong tense or mixing transitive and intransitive or getting subject and object the wrong way round).

Have you tried doing this? In general you can't swap these verbs without the resulting use being ungrammatical. The problem is that "watch" is durative (it takes time) and "see" is punctual (it takes no time).

[IIsi50MHz]

"I'd like to see that film." | "I'd like to watch that film." (interchangeable)

"I see birds." / "I watch birds." (very different)

"I'm seeing birds." ~ "I'm watching birds." (semantic'ly identical, but the first one is unusual)

"I'll see you home." / "I'll watch you home." (second on is word choice error)

[pm215]

"I watched the hawk landing in the tree" ; "I saw the hawk landing in the tree" -- both fine grammatically.

[thaumasiotes]

Is this the level of analysis you apply to all your work?

Try "I was watching the hawk as it landed in the tree."