問:以下一句,哪個選擇正確?──Helen agreed to / with John's suggestion of going to Taiwan。
答:一個流行說法,是agree with之後的受詞(object)須指「人」,而agree to之後的受詞,則須指「意見」、「建議」等。這說法不正確。Agree with指「贊同」,其後受詞指「人」或「意見」等都可以;agree to則有「准許」的意思,例如:(1)I agree with you / your view that the so-called political reform bill should be thrown out(我同意你的看法,那條所謂政制改革法案應予否決)。(2)The dictatorial regime will never agree to genuine universal suffrage(那獨裁政權永遠不會容許真正的普選)。
讀者示下那一句,用to是說「海倫允許約翰去臺灣的建議」,用with則是說「她贊成那建議」。
問:The organisation will relocate to Mongkok(該機構將遷往旺角)這一句,will relocate是不是應作will be relocated?
答:公司、機構等,可視作有組織的一群人,而人可以主動行事,所以讀者說的那一句,多會用主動語態(active voice)的will relocate。請比較以下兩句:(1)The company decided to relocate to Singapore(公司決定遷往新加坡)。(2)The board of directors decided to relocate the company to Singapore(董事局決定把公司遷往新加坡)。這兩句意思其實差不多,但第二句把公司視為一件事物,由董事局主宰,所以relocate可改用被動語態(passive voice):The board of directors decided that the company should be relocated to Singapore。