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2011年11月15日 星期二

Like to do vs. Like doing


早陣子,閒來無聊在雅虎的網誌堆中亂逛,看見網上有人推薦網絡紅人解釋「like to dolike doing分別」的網上短片,便上Youtube看看其解說。簡言之,這位老師認為like to dolike doing在美式英文中沒有任何分別,但在英式英文中卻有一個明顯的區別,那就是他認為在英式英文中, like doing解作喜歡做某事,而like to do則有preference(偏愛做某事)的意思。看畢後,雖然不能說網絡紅人的解說是錯的,但我卻認為當中有不盡不實的地方。

再上網Google或百度一下,你會發現原來討論這課題的人還真的不少,外國的有,中、港、台的也有。他們的見解跟網絡紅人的頗不相同,但莫衷一是;唯一的共通點就是他們大都不是以英語為母語的人,更不是英語專才,所以我對他們的觀點都持保留的態度。

例如在大陸的網站,網友們的觀點有的是採用七、八十年代著名英語學者L.G. Alexander的著作Longman English Grammar中的說法,即like+infinitive 主要是說 specified future event, like+gerund則是關於 activity currently in progressp. 320)。也有人說like to do 表示具動作,而like doing sth往往表示習慣性的動作。又有人說「在英中,like接的doing sth多表示泛指性的事情;而to do sth多表示具體場合的事情,而美國中,like doinglike to do常常不加區別」。有興趣的網友可以上Google或百度自己搜索一下。

那大猩猩的觀點又是怎樣的呢?我認為上述的說法頗有不足之處。首先,甚麼是「動作」,而「泛指性的事情」又該如何理解?我相信你將這二個解釋套進字典的例句中,你仍無法理解為什麼這句要用infinitive,而那句則用gerund?情況就好像我之前談過人們所給關於如何區別suffersuffer from的解說一樣。

作為一個喜歡研究的人,我花了點時間搜集資料,得到了一些結論。但由於資料比較散亂,所以後來我又再花了很多天來整理相關內容,務求以一個較全面,也易於理解的形式展示給大家看,所以這篇網誌花的時間也比較長。現在我們先來看看like這個字;它是一個多詞類的字,即它可以是adjectiveadverbconjunctionprepositionverb。而我今天只就like作動詞時的用法討論。作為一個transitive verblike後面可以直接跟受詞或object complement(受詞補語),例如:

e.g. I like your new haircut. (Cambridge, p. 830)

e.g. I dont like the idea of leaving my mother alone all week. (Merriam-Webster, p. 947)

事實上,很多語法學家都認為like to dolike doing沒有太大的分別,這觀點從某個角度來看是對的。例如Michael Swan在其名著Practical English Usage中便說到當談及 enjoying activities in general時,我們可以用like+inglike+infinitive

e.g. I really like walking/to walk in the woods. (Swan, p. 304)

e.g. Children always like listening/to listen to stories. (Swan, p. 304)

但除此之外,我們還要留意在某些情況下,like to do sthlike doing sth還是有頗明顯的分別的。在看這幾種分別前,我們不妨先重温一下高階字典給like的解釋(這些解釋是我綜合了手頭上的參考書和字典所得出的):

1. enjoy (doing) sth; think that sth is nice or good; find sb or sth pleasant, attractive or of a good standard

e.g. I like going out to parties with friends or watching TV. (Macmillan, p. 874)

e.g. He likes telling jokes. (English Grammar Today, p. 194)

e.g. I just didnt like being in crowds. (Cobuild, p. 909)

e.g. I like to see them enjoying themselves. (Oxford, p. 893)

2. approve of sth and think that it is good or right;多用於否定句中,表示unwilling to do sththink it better not to時:

e.g. Hes never liked talking about people behind their backs. (Longman, p. 1013)

e.g. I dont like to interrupt her when shes in a meeting. (Macmillan, p. 874)

e.g. Opal, his wife, didnt really like his drinking so much. (Cobuild, p. 909)

e.g. I dont like relying on the judges decisions. (Cobuild, p. 909)

e.g. The US administration (would) like to see a negotiated settlement to the war. (Cobuild, p. 909)

3. prefer to do sth; prefer sth to be made/happen in a particular way

e.g. She likes us hand our work in on time. (Macmillan, p. 874)

e.g. He likes to spend his evenings in front of the television. (Cambridge, p. 830)

e.g. She likes the children to go to bed early during the week (Swan, p. 305)

e.g. Despite everything, I (would) still like to think that people are basically good. (Merriam-Webster, p. 947)

e.g. I hear Marys husband likes her to be home no later than six oclock. (Cobuild, p. 909)

看完這麼多例子後(大家別跳過例句不看,學英文字典中的例句是至關重要的,因為你可從中模仿如何寫地道的英文出來),大家有沒有發現like to dolike doing究竟有甚麼分別?我認為主要的不同之處有三:

1. 一般來說,like doing在英式英文較為普遍 (Swan),而like to do則常見於美式英語中(出處忘了,後補)。這和網絡紅人的說法有點不一樣。

2. Like to do有選擇(choice)和偏好做某事(preference)的意思,而like doing則沒有。要特別留意的是這個選擇是基於以下三種情況的:

2.1 Like to do sth是選擇去做某些事,而這些事通常是跟一個人的日常習慣有關的 (prefer to do it as part of your normal life or routine, Cobuild/Scott Thornbury)。所以SwanWe can use like+infinitive to talk about choice and habits

e.g. I like to do the shopping early on Saturday mornings. (Swan, p. 305)

e.g. When I am pouring tea I like to put the milk in first. (Swan, p. 305)

2.2 正因為這選擇和習慣有關,所以like to do也表示一些我們經常做的事(try to do sth regularly or make sth happen regularly, Longman)

e.g. I like to get up early and get a bit of work done before the breakfast. (Longman, 1013)

e.g. She likes to go and see her parents at the weekend. (English Grammar Today, p. 194)

2.3 最後,我們選擇做的事當然是一些我們認為是明智和正確的(Thomson & Martinet) 。而John Eastwood也指出若like的意思是「出於好主意而非愉快做某事,後面要用帶to不定式」(Oxford Learners Grammar, p. 197),這裏「好主意」其實跟「明智之選」沒有二樣:

e.g. We like our students to take part in college sports activities. (Longman, 1013)

e.g. I like to get to airports in good time. (Cobuild, p. 909)

e.g. I like to keep all these papers in order. Oxford Learners Grammar, p. 197

其實,選擇/喜好,習慣,經常做的事和明智之舉四者之間有非常密切的關係。你喜歡做的事,通常自己都會認為是正確的,而經常做事當然就代表自己的習慣。所以這個細分說出來其實有點多餘,但我的目的只為讓網友更易了解當中的細微區別。相對來說,like doing沒有選擇和習慣的成份在內,純粹表達一些自己喜歡做,並享受的事情。就這方面,語法學家George Davidson在其書Verbs & Tenses中,給了以下的解說,個人認為頗值得參考:

To 'like to do sth' my be used in the sense of doing sth because you think it is a good or sensible thing to do, whether or not you enjoy it:

e.g. I like to visit my mother at least once a week. (= I visit her at least once a week because I think I should)

e.g. I like to weigh myself every morning, even though I hate seeing how fat I am. (= I weigh myself every morning because I think it is a sensible thing to do, even though I don't enjoy doing it)

To 'like doing sth' cannot be used in this sense: to like doing sth always means to enjoy doing it. (p. 152-153)

 

3. 第三個分別在A Practical English Grammar和已故的大陸著名英語學者葛傳規所編寫的《英語慣用法詞典》中都有提到。那就是在否定句時,like to dolike doing所表達的含意有一點不同。例如,

e.g. I didnt like to have lunch with my boss this afternoon.

e.g. I didnt like having lunch with my boss this afternoon.

上面二句例句的不同之處在於前者是說我不喜歡和老板一起吃午飯,所以沒有去;而後者則表示我不喜歡和老板一起吃午飯,但我最終還是去了。

除了以上這三點主要的分別外,like to dolike doing還有一些其他的細微分別。例如Swan提到當說到在某一次情況中喜歡做某事,應該用like doing sth

e.g. I really like working with him on his boat last week. (Swan, 304)

另外,葛傳規也提到「說經常的愛好,用不定式(infinitive)或動名詞都可以,但對於簡單的動作或情況(較常)用動名詞,如He likes dancing。但對於複雜些的事,用不定式比較普通,如He likes to see his children at playHe likes to work far into the night」。留意以上這二種情況並不如前述的第二和第三點重要,同學們知道就可以。

總括來說,說當你想說「喜歡,享受」做某事(如解釋一)或「贊同」做某事時(如解釋二)時,你用like+infinitivelike+ing-form都可以。但當你想表達「選擇」做某事(如解釋三)或因本身的「習慣」而做某事時,那這時候你便只能用like+infinitive了。

由於東西方文化的差異和語言習慣的不同,當like這個字譯做中文時,我們只會說「鍾意」或「喜歡」。但在英文中,like卻如上述至少有三個相近的意思。另一方面,學生們要留意上面的介定並不是絕對的,它只是一種指引。like所要表達的意思最終由用者自行决定。例如English Grammar Today裡有這一例句:

e.g. I like swimming before breakfast. (p. 194)

按照上面的界定,這個like字後面接動名詞時,應是解作喜歡(做)。但同樣地你可以說早餐前游泳是一種習慣,故此句改寫成I like to swim before breakfast也無不可。記著,句子想表達甚麼意思因人而異。

限於篇幅,有關would like to do sth how do/would you like doing sth?等句式就不贅了,大家可以自己看書去了解。在完結這篇文章前想說一件事,今天這道課題,答案明明就在一衆高階詞典中(特別是LongmanCobuild)已詳細說明,學生只要細心閱讀其中的解釋,再印證Practical English Usage的解說,就不難得到一個清晰的景像。可惜現在大多數的人都懶得查字典,一味胡亂臆測,捨近圖遠,到最後甚麼也學不到。其實不單止大中華區,世界上很多非英語國家的人在學習英語的過程中都很容易勿略了字典的重要性。他們以為字典只是一種輔助工具,但殊不知字典其實是學好英文的一種不可或缺的東西,裡面可以提供很多有用的資訊。有機會我會寫一篇如何運用字典來學習英語的網誌。

 

附錄 Other Grammatical Structures of Like

1 like + object + participle

e.g. He likes his steak well-done. (Cambridge, p. 830)

2 like + object + adjective

e.g. I like my coffee strong. (Oxford, p. 893)

3 like + object + verb

e.g. I dont like people phoning/to phone me in the middle of the night. (Swan, p. 304)

e.g. I dont like him taking all the credit when he didnt do any of the work. (Longman, p. 1013)

e.g. He likes his friends to call him Hank. (English Grammar Today, p. 194)

4 like + wh-clause

e.g. I didnt like what he said. (English Grammar Today, p. 268)

e.g. We liked how they cooked the fish. (English Grammar Today, p. 268)

5 like + that clause

e.g. She likes (it/the fact) that I play the guitar. (Merriam-Webster, p. 947)

6 like + prep + sb/sth

e.g. What I really like about her is her sense of humour. (Macmillan, p. 874)