| 词组 | able to |
| 释义 | able to In constructions where able is followed by to and the infinitive, the infinitive is nearly always in the active voice, whether the subject is human or nonhuman. Human subjects are more common: • ... people have traditionally been able to walk into museums free —Huntington Hartford, The Public Be Damned, 1955 • So far, I have been able to keep my enthusiasm ... under control —John Fischer, Harper's, November 1970 • But the City that lay between was not his ground, and Richard II was no more able than Charles I to dictate to its militia —G. M. Trevelyan, English Social History, 1942 • She hopes to find Somebody able and willing to buy her freedom —Lafcadio Hearn, Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan, 1894 • There are those from whom not even death has been able to disconnect me —George P. Elliott, Harper's, September 1970 The passive infinitive is much less common. Some commentators (Longman 1984, Perrin & Ebbitt 1972) opine that the construction sounds awkward; perhaps it often does, and awkwardness may account for its being fairly uncommon. Here are three examples to show that it is used on occasion: • ... Mr. Doddington, from whose disapproval the story of Gavin and the Concannons' party had not been able to be kept —Elizabeth Bowen, Horizon, September 1945 • ... so social and religious life would be able to be carried out on a normal basis —L. S. B. Leakey, Mau Mau and the Kikuyu, 1952 • ... a simple experiment able to be performed by anyone —Monsanto Mag., December 1953 Using the last example for illustrative purposes, we can avoid the passive infinitive by revising it to include can or could: • ... a simple experiment that anyone could (can) perform; or • ... a simple experiment that can (could) be performed by anyone. |
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