2016最新商務寫作指南：“to”可以加動詞-ing形式

　　I said in the last post that when “to” acts as a preposition it is usually followed by an –ing form or a noun/noun phrase.

　　上一次我們說到，當“to”用作動詞時，后面經常會跟著動詞-ing形式或者名詞/名詞性詞組。

　　Now we will look at exceptions to this rule.

　　現在，我們來看看這個規(guī)則有哪些例外的情況。

　　The most important exception relates to the verb “agree”. You may use an infinitive verb after “agree to”. For example:

　　這其中最重要的一項是關于動詞“agree”的。“agree to”后面要跟動詞不定式。

　　EX. I cannot agree to delete Section 3.7.

　　例句：我不同意刪去第3.7節(jié)。

　　EX. This provision may cause unnecessary difficulties especially in complex matters where the parties do not agree to extend the prescribed time period.

　　例句：這項規(guī)定可能會造成不必要的麻煩，尤其是當雙方不同意延長規(guī)定期限的復雜情況下。

　　If you try to use –ing forms in these examples in a document written on Microsoft Word, you’ll find that “deleting” and “extending” are underlined in green. This is because Word’s grammar check knows about this exception.

　　當你在Word里打字時，要是在以上這些例子后面加上了動詞的-ing形式，你會發(fā)現你打的“deleting”和“extending”下面有綠色的波浪號出現。這是因為Word的語法檢查能查出這些。

　　“Agree” is not the only verb covered by this exception. Others are “consent”, “entitled” “inclined” and “prone”.

　　“agree”不是唯一的例外。還有“consent”，“entitled”，“inclined”和“prone”。

　　Here are some examples:

　　這里舉出了一些例子：

　　EX. The duchess has consented to open her London house to the public for two months every summer.

　　例句：公爵夫人已經同意每年夏天開放其住所供群眾參觀。

　　EX. The Company is entitled to request that the authority reassesses the circumstances of the case.

　　例句：本公司有權要求當局重新評估案件的情況。

　　EX. I am inclined to agree with you.

　　例句：我傾向于你的觀點。

　　EX. The Employee is prone to suffer from asthma attacks and cannot work in a dusty environment.

　　例句：這個職員很容易哮喘病發(fā)作，所以他不能在塵土飛揚的環(huán)境里工作。

　　More on “agree to”

　　“agree to”的更多說明

　　However, there is a difference in meaning between “agree to + -ing” and “agree to + infinitive”. Let’s make a comparison:

　　但是“agree to + -ing” 和“agree to + 不定式”在意思上還是有區(qū)別的。讓我們來比較一下這個例子：

　　I cannot agree to delete Section 3.7.

　　I cannot agree to deleting Section 3.7.

　　The first one means I am not going to delete Section 3.7 myself; whereas the second sentence means I don’t want Section 3.7 to be deleted by anybody.

　　第一句句子意思是我不會自己去刪掉3.7節(jié)，但第二句句子表達的是我不希望任何人刪掉3.7節(jié)。

　　If you find it difficult to see the difference in meaning, try replacing the -ing form with a noun phrase:

　　如果你覺得要看出其中的差異有點難，那你可以試著用一個名詞性詞組來代替動詞-ing形式：

　　EX. I cannot agree to the deletion of Section 3.7. (Deletion by anyone)

　　例句：我不同意刪掉第3.7節(jié)。(任何人去刪除，我都不會同意的)