1) alone 不能用 very, too 等副词来修饰,但可以用 very much 或 all(作副词用)来修饰。
- The house stands on the hillside all alone.房子孤零零地立在山坡上。
也可以有比较级,不同事物彼此比较或同一事物不同场合比较均可。
- Sometimes men are more alone than women.男人有时候比女人更孤单。
- She is more alone than ever.她比任何时候都更加孤单。
2) leave somebody/ something alone 通常不是留下某人(或某物)孤零零一个,孤立某人,而是“不打扰”他或“不惊动”他,或对某物不采取行动。
- About half the American people turned their clocks ahead for day-light-saving time, while the other half left their clocks alone.大约有一半美国人按照节省白天时间把时钟往前拨,而另一半人则不动时钟。
但是有时候 leave somebody/ something alone 也有字面上的“单独留下某人或某物”的意思。
- Don't leave the baby alone.别把婴孩单独留下。
要注意有时候 leave 和 alone 当中会隔着很长的其他成分(即 leave 的直接宾语),但 leave 和 alone 之间的呼应关系不能因此而中断。
- They left the hospital, where we had been treating servicemen, alone for several weeks and then they abruptly shut us down at 24 hours notice. (BBC News, March 29, 2008)这所医院原本是我们治疗军人的,他们(指二战中的日本占领军)有几个星期没有打扰我们,但是忽然之间,通知我们二十四小时内关闭。