(adj。) thankful (unthankful); (n。) thankfulness
thank作為及物動詞,常用搭配是thank sb (for sth / for doing sth),如:
She said goodbye and thanked us for coming。
thank表示“感謝”,習慣上只接“人”作賓語,而不能接“事”作賓語:
正:Thank you for your help。
誤:Thank your help。
另外的用法:
1. have sb to thank for (doing) sth 歸功于,如:
I have my parents to thank for my success。
2. thank your lucky stars 感謝你的幸運之星,口語中用于表達幸運,尤其是躲過了不愉快或危險的事。如:
Just thank your lucky stars you weren't in the house at the time。
appreciate
(adj。) appreciative (inappreciative); (n。) appreciation
appreciate作為“感激”解釋時是及物動詞,常用搭配:appreciate doing sth,后跟動名詞或代詞it代指的事情。習慣上只能接“事”作賓語(object),而不能接“人”作賓語:
正:I'd appreciate some help。
誤:I'd appreciate you for some help。
appreciate也指“欣賞”,有“對某事物有一定的興趣及認識”的含義,如:
In time you'll appreciate the beauty and subtlety of this language。
此外,在商業(yè)書信來往中,appreciate一字出現(xiàn)率頗高,但其意和上面提及的“欣賞”音樂有所不同;如:
We greatly appreciate your getting the goods to us at such short notice。
在這句里,“We greatly appreciate.。。”和“Thank you for.。。”含意相同。
appreciate的第三個意思是“(對一種情況或問題的)理解”,如
I fully appreciate your concern. We will do all in our power to help。
appreciate的另一用法是指某東西“增值”,是不及物動詞,如:
Their investments have appreciated over the years。
大家有沒有留意到appreciate解作升值時是不需接賓語(object)的?
grateful
(反)ungrateful; (n。) gratitude (ingratitude)
grateful沒有相應(yīng)的動詞,它的常用搭配是be grateful to sb for sth,或者后面跟不定式或that從句,如:
I am extremely grateful to all the teachers for their help。
She seems to think I should be grateful to have a job at all。
He was grateful that she didn't tell his parents about the incident。
另外,grateful也可用于表達請求,這種用法在書信或者其他正式場合用得比較多,如:
I would be grateful if you could send the completed form back as soon as possible。
除了上述的用法區(qū)別之外,thank, appreciate和grateful在表達情感上也有略微的區(qū)別:
"When you are 'grateful' to someone, you can sometimes feel a little 'beholden' to them. It creates a feeling of 'owingness'." 也就是說grateful帶有一點“義務(wù)”的性質(zhì)。
而另一方面,"When we appreciate someone or something there is a feeling of ending. There is a feeling of finality. We do not feel the need to pay this person back." 當我們用appreciate有點意味著這件事的結(jié)束,不需要再做什么回報。
另外,oblige (vt。) 一詞也有“使感激”的意思,如:
I'm much obliged to you. 我非常感謝你。
不過oblige更常見的含義是“迫使”,如:
Parents are obliged by law to send their children to school。