| 词组 | do |
| 释义 | do Quirk et al. 1985 has a section on the use of do as a pro-form—that is, as a substitute for the predicate of an earlier part of the sentence. The uses discussed, in which do follows a modal auxiliary like may and must or perfective have (usually with a modal auxiliary), are idioms principally found in British English. These are not recent idioms; they have been under attack and examination at least since Cobbett 1823. Let's put down some examples here to relieve the abstractness of this grammatical talk. First, do after a modal (or after used to, here functioning somewhat like a modal): • ... but my money has not held out so well as it used to do —Samuel Johnson, letter, 22 July 1777 • ... Mrs. Stent gives us quite as much of her company as we wish for, & rather more than she used to do —Jane Austen, letter, 30 Nov. 1800 • ... but if your mention of "a less expensive paper" implies (as I presume it must do) that you propose to lower the price of the book —Lewis Carroll, letter, 24 Aug. 1866 • "But you must do. I thought all men had to know ..." —John Fowles, The Collector, 1963 • 'Recognize it?' the man said, whipping the thing out again. 'I might do.'— Colin Maclnnes, Mr Love and Justice, 1960 • ... and she said, Does money grow on trees Bill? It might do, I said ...—The Stories of Frank Sargeson, 1974 And here are some examples of do after perfective have. The first of these is a quotation that Cobbett worried to death for nearly half a page before concluding that it made no sense. Our evidence suggests that this is the more common form of the idiom at present. • It is somewhat unfortunate, that this Number of the Spectator did not end, as it might very well have done, with the former beautiful period —Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, 1783 • "In the month of June last, do you remember a parcel arriving for Mr. Lawrence Cavendish ... ?" • "I don't remember, sir. It may have done, but Mr. • Lawrence was away " —Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, 1920 • 'She must have transferred her affections to some foul blister she met out there.' 'No, no.' • 'Don't keep saying "No, no." She must have done.'—P. G. Wodehouse, Right Ho, Jeeves, 1934 • "Did you leave the front door open, Roddy?" "No." • "There's an awful draught swirling round my ankles. I think you must have done."—Elizabeth Taylor, At Mrs Lippincote's, 1945 • ... you are inclined to say, "Yes, but I've seen this before. St. Vincent looked just like this." • It may have done, but there'll be differences — Alec Waugh, Love and the Caribbean, 1958 • The question that most concerns the British reader is: "Can it happen here?" The short answer is: "It has done" —Times Literary Supp., 25 Apr. 1968 • ... no longer looks as safe as it would have done before—Times Literary Supp., 12 June 1969 • "We felt this man did not have the same service he would have done had he been white," said Mr. Hunte —Evening Mail (Birmingham, England), 13 June 1974 As you will have noted, most of these examples come from quoted or fictional conversation or from letters. It would thus appear that British writers tend to avoid the construction in more dignified prose. Our few recent American examples show no such limitation, probably because the idiom is not a common conversational one in American English. • The energy crisis has not yet overwhelmed us, but it will do if we do not act quickly —Jimmy Carter, radio talk, quoted by J. R. Pole in Michaels & Ricks 1980 • ... the OCF didn't begin as well as it could have done —Stanley Kauffmann, Before My Eyes, 1980 • Assuming that the first galaxies formed in the densest regions—as they almost certainly would have done —M. Mitchell Waldrop, Science, 26 Sept. 1986 |
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英语用法大全包含2888条英语用法指南，基本涵盖了全部常用英文词汇及语法点的翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。