偶然在本网看到一个网友提问的句子:
I have a key to open the door.
https://www.cpsenglish.com/question/28770
我也查了一下类似问题的解答,发现大家普遍认为key to opening the door 准确,因为to 是介词。我觉得I have a key to open the door.这个句子没问题,这里是不定式的用法。不知大家有什么看法?
I have a key to open the door.的说法是现代英语中常见的用法,应该没有错。这里to open the door 为不定式,表示目的。I have a key to open the door with. 的说法也符合语法,但很少有人这样用了。a key to opening the door的用法也是正确的,也在普遍使用,例如:Please realize that your creativity is a key to opening the door of the Fun Department.
经查,《牛津英语用法指南》一书的102(3)词条,碰巧对网友的这个问题做出了解释:
102(3)purpose: a key to open the door
An infinitive can be used after a noun, or an indefinite pronoun like something, to explain the purpose of a particular thing: what it does, or what somebody does with it. The noun or pronoun can be like the subject of the infinitive.
Have you got a key to open this door? (The key will open the door.)
It was a war to end all wars. I'd like something to stop my toothache.
以上部分为该书的原文。
请注意我觉得当key不表示钥匙,而表示“关键”等类似含义时,后面的to为介词,一般后接名词或动名词。例如:The key to writing fiction is to make something that you would want to read. (free dictionary例句)
现另提供几个语料库的例句供参考:
1. People should have a key to open the door to enter the house.
2. Maggie used the entrance key to open the door.
3. You don't need a key to lock most doors from the inside.
如果中心词是作定语的动词不定式(短语)所示动作的地点、方式、工具等,应该在该动词不定式后面使用适当的介词。“开门的钥匙”的含义是,钥匙是用来开门的工具。所以:
I have a key to open the door.(错误)
I have a key to open the door with.(正确)
(to open the door with是动词不定式短语作后置定语)
I have a key to opening the door .(正确)
(to opening the door 是介词短语作后置定语)
Most doors have locks that require a very specific key to open them. -- Huffington Post
"We must have the keys to open the house of France, to open it halfway, to close the door". -- The New Yorker
"All the windows are closed, and the political elite has no keys to open them," says Raid Nairat, an academic. ---The Economist
一家之言,仅供参考;勤查英英,必有所获。