使我詫異、考慮寄錢 - 古德明

使我詫異、考慮寄錢 - 古德明

問:「這使我感到奇怪」英文為甚麼不能說It made me surprised,而須說It surprised me或It took me by surprise?
答:Make之後,可以用「受詞(object)+完成式動詞」,例如牛津出版社Guide to Patterns and Usage in English第一章Verb Patterns有以下例句:You must make yourself respected(你必須獲得人家尊重)。It made me surprised一語,用的也是這句式,並沒有錯。英語學者G David Morley Syntax in Functional Grammar第十六章More on complementation就有以下例句:It makes me surprised that you didn't notice(你沒有留意,真奇怪)。
不過,It made me surprised沒有It surprised me那麼簡潔,的確較為少見。
問:He considered to send money to her(他考慮寄錢給她)這一句,to send為甚麼須改為sending?
答:Consider之後,不可用「to+原形動詞(infinitive)」,但可用受詞,而動名詞(gerund,即ing動詞)當然也可作受詞用,例如:(1)We are considering his application(我們正考慮他的申請)。(2)I am considering applying for the job(我正考慮申請這工作)。所以,英文可說He considered sending money to her,不能說He considered to send money to her。
留意「Consider+受詞」之後,有時可以用to,例如:(1)He is generally considered to be a nice guy(他是公認的好人)。(2)The incident is considered to have sparked the war(那事故或說觸發了這場戰爭)。