以下两句均出自《动物庄园》
1. The bits, the nose-rings, the dog-chains, the cruel knives with which Mr. Jones had been used to castrate the pigs and lambs, were all flung down the well.
因为castrate是动词原型,所以按be use to习惯于来解不对,按use to曾经来解,那么前面的had been是怎么回事?
2. It was noticed that they wagged their tails to him in the same way as the other dogs had been used to do to Mr. Jones.
和上句一样had been无法理解。
—————————长长的分界线
有人认为这两句的be used 后接不定式的形式是常见be used to doing sth的罕见形式,有的认为是作者疏忽用错了be used to doing的正确搭配,castrate和do是castrating和doing的误用,还有人认为是had been used里的been应该删除。很想听听您的分析,谢谢!
你不是专门研究语言的,看懂句子意思是你读小说的目的。以上二个句子中Mr. Jones had been used to castrate 和 the other dogs had been used to do 均不符合现代英语用法,或者说在现代英语被认为是错误的。所以,你改为 Mr. Jones had used to castrate 和 the other dogs had done 即可,没有必要去细究原句的用法。作者能写小说,不大可能会在这个问题上犯语法错误,但如果想要证明在作者写书的那个年代有这种用法则需要寻找证据来证明,谁会为此去寻找证据呢?我相信当时是有这种用法的。比如used to do 和be used to doing 二个用法之间是有内在联系的,在历史演变过程中存在混用的时期是完全有可能的。我没有资料证明这一点,但我相信有人可以。你自己如果有兴趣也可以找资料。我的建议是看懂句子意思就行了,不在这里浪费时间。
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早期用法残余。可以先了解一下Be used to doing来源。use这个词在有对应的主动用法,表示"使...习惯于",比如
1783 It is not surprising that the seal should use her little ones to live under water.
1814 He wanted to use her by degrees to live without meat.
1873 So as to wean you like a child, and use you to dry bread instead of milk.(介词to)
也有对应的反身代词作宾语用法
1753 We may use ourselves to fear as well as to be bold.
1818 Mithridates used himself to poisons. (介词)
1850 Using themselves when they wake in the night to rise and say the fifty-first Psalm.
被动用法,对应你的问题:
1720 St. Poinct was used to ask, whether the farce was ready to be acted.
1796 I'm not used to be used in this manner!
1833 The friar smiled, and was evidently used to this raillery. (介词to)
1850 A person..used to making sacrifices. (介词to+ing)
1888 Which had stirred Terry's heart just as it had been used to stir it years and years ago.
夹杂的介词用法反映出了这个结构的过渡。