在大多数情况下,我们会看到 to 后面要接动词不定式,比如以下这两个句子(这篇文章里的所有例句都来自当代美国英语语料库,Corpus of Comtemporary American English):
The studentswanted to watchthese recordings over and over.
As the Fedbegins to raiserates, the equation should change.
然而,我们偶尔也会看到 to 加doing 的形式。我想大家最常见的莫过于 look forward to doing,比如:
Ilook forward to workingwith your vibrant community.
Ilook forward to meetingthe digitized representation of Joel.
就我这几年修改论文的经验来看,很多人都不知道 look forward to 后面应该是 doing 而不是 do。不仅中国学生,我注意到就连德国和荷兰大学的教学秘书,在发给我的电邮中, 也时常出现 look forward to do 的错误。
除了look forward to doing, 可能大家还遇到过 contribute to doing, dedicate to doing 等等,比如:
Post-Reformation developmentscontribute to creatinga common understanding and history.
Hededicatedhis lifeto reducingthe stigma of mental health.
何时用 to do 何时用 to doing 也许会让很多人感到困惑。"To do", or " to doing", that is the question. 我们当然可以把这些 to doing 的结构当作固定用法个别记忆,毕竟这样的结构也不多。但是,其实 to 后面什么时候加 do, 什么时候加 doing 是有道理可讲的。
这个道理就在于 to 有两个功能,首先 to 可以作为所谓的infinite marker,也就是