英語思維定勢錯(cuò)誤例析——情態(tài)動詞后接非謂語動詞

一般說來，情態(tài)動詞后面必須接動詞原形，不能接不定式、現(xiàn)在分詞之類的非謂語動詞，以could為例舉例如下：

This man could heal all diseases. 這個(gè)人什么病都能治。

I could hardly wait to hear the news. 我簡直等不及聽那個(gè)消息了。

We could hear her feet right above us. 我們能聽到正上方她的腳步聲。

但是請看下面一題，千萬不要思維思勢的影響做錯(cuò)了：

The soldiers tried their best and did what they could _________ against the flood.

A. fight                 B. to fight             C. fighting            D. fought

【分析】有的同學(xué)一看到空格前的情態(tài)動詞 could 就斷定此處應(yīng)填動詞原形 fight，即斷定選A答案。其實(shí)選錯(cuò)了，正確答案應(yīng)是B。這是一個(gè)省略句，即在 could 后省略了動詞 do，若把句子補(bǔ)完整應(yīng)為The soldiers tried their best and did what they could do to fight against the flood (士兵們竭盡全力抗洪)。即句中的不定式短語 (to fight against the flood) 用作目的狀語的，而不是與情態(tài)動詞(could)一起構(gòu)成謂語。請?jiān)倏搭愃评�句�?/SPAN>

(1) He did what he could to help us. 他盡力幫助我們。

(2) He saved what he could to buy a car. 他盡量節(jié)約每一分錢以便買車。

(3) He ran as fast as he could to catch the early bus. 他拼命地跑以便趕上早班車。

至此，有的同學(xué)可能又會想當(dāng)然地認(rèn)為，今后只要遇到類似結(jié)構(gòu)的題選帶to不定式就萬事大吉了，但也不一定，例外還是有的，還得具體問題具體分析。請看下例：

(4) He ran as fast as he could _________ to catch the early bus.(http://ask.yygrammar.com/)

A. to hope            B. hope                 C. hoping              D. hoped

若根據(jù)以上“經(jīng)驗(yàn)”認(rèn)為此題要選A答案，那就又錯(cuò)了。此題應(yīng)選 C，其中的現(xiàn)在分詞短語 hoping to catch the early bus 用作伴隨狀語。

(5) He spent every minute he could _________ spoken English.

A. practise            B. to practise        C. practising         D. practised

【分析】此題應(yīng)選 C，它與以上各題的情形均有所不同，雖然與上面的第(4)題的答案一樣，均為動詞的 –ing 形式，但也不完全一樣：第(4)的 hoping 為現(xiàn)在分詞，在句中用作伴隨狀語；而此題的 practising 是動名詞，之所以用它與前面動詞 spent 的搭配有關(guān)，即 spend … (in) doing sth。若將此句補(bǔ)充完整，即為 He spent every minute he could spend in practising spoken English.

(6) Mr Smith made up his mind to devote all he could _________ his oral English before going abroad. (http://www.hz123456.com/)

A. improve            B. to improve        C. improving         D. to improving

【分析】此題答案選D，注意兩點(diǎn)：一是 devote … to … 是固定搭配，意為“把……貢獻(xiàn)給……”；二是其中的 to 是介詞，不是不定式符號，后接動詞時(shí)要用動名詞。