不定式和动名词的区别

陈小将

英语中的不定式（to + 动词原形）和动名词（动词 -ing）是一对容易被混淆的结构。它们与特定的动词搭配可分别组成 “动词 + to do” 以及 “动词 + doing” 的形式。如果将动词后的不定式换成动名词，句子的意思通常会随之发生改变，反之亦然。
在不确定应使用哪一个结构来表达你想说的话时，不妨试试这个判断方法：在表示不真实、抽象或未来发生的动作时，多用不定式。比如：She wants to eat. 她想吃东西。但也不排除在一些固定搭配中，尽管动作未发生，但仍应使用动名词而非不定式，比如 “fancy doing something” 想要做某事。在表示真实或已完成的动作时，多用动名词。比如：He enjoys playing computer games. 他很喜欢玩电脑游戏。同理，有一些已完成的动作，则需要使用不定式而非动名词，比如 “manage to do something” 成功做成某事。
做八道题，测一测你是否掌握了这两个常见动词结构的用法。
1. Even though it was raining heavily, we managed _______ dry under the umbrella.
a) stay
b) staying
c) to staying
d) to stay
2. Do you fancy _______ a film tonight?
a) to watch
b) watching
c) watch
d) to watching
3. I sometimes enjoy _______ late because I can concentrate better when there’s no one in the office.
a) working
b) to work
c) work
d) having worked
4. My parents used to make me _______ my homework as soon as I came home from school.
a) be doing
b) doing
c) to do
d) do
5. He sent me a message on Facebook, but I forgot _______ him my reply.
a) to send
b) to be sending
c) send
d) sending
6. It’s Chen’s birthday next week. How about _______ a table at her favourite restaurant?
a) to book
b) book
c) booking
d) having to book
7. I enjoy _______ to just lie on my sofa reading a good book after a long, hard day at work.
a) able
b) to be able
c) to able
d) being able
8. If you need to get up early tomorrow, I suggest you _______ the alarm clock.
a) fix
b) to fix
c) fixing
d) to be fixing
答案
1) d, 2) b, 3) a, 4) d, 5) a, 6) c, 7) d, 8) a.