It was my first
time spending Spring Festival in China with my host family.
这是高中英语新教材北师大版必修1第3单元中的一个句子(p52)。
为什么这里在 it was my first time 后面接 doing 呢? 这样也可以吗?不是该接不定式 to do 吗?
It/That/This is/was sb's first time doing sth. 这是某人第一次做某事。这是习惯表示方法,要记住并模仿使用。
It/That/This is/was the first time that sb has/had done sth. 这是正确结构。
以上二种结构可以互换,意义相同。
Sb is/was the first man/person to do sth. 这是正确的表达。即只有不定式与被修饰名词为逻辑主谓关系时,才可以在这个句式中用不定式作定语。也可改用定语从句作定语,从句通常要用完成体:
Sb is/was the first man/person that has/had done sth.
以上四种结构为正确表达。
下面是错误的表达,也是中国人容易犯的错误,注意避免。
It/That/This is/was sb's first time to do sth. 这是错误的表达方法,这种结构是不能用不定式作定语的。
It/That/This is/was the first time for sb to do sth. 这也是错误的结构,不要使用。
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谢谢黎老师提供的权威例句。但我查了一下手头的资料,也有人认为可以用不定式。
如浙江大学出版的《英语常用词疑难用法手册》就认为以下三句都对:
Is this your first time to visit Beijing?
Is this the first time you have visited Beijing?
Is this your first visit to Beijing?
您是第一次访问北京吗?
另外,商务印书馆出版的《英语正误词典》也有类似说法:
当然,以上两书不如黎老师提到的《英语用法指南》权威,但既然也有一些辞书认为可以用不定式,是有争议?还是上面提到的两本书的提法有错?请各位朋友补充手头有说服力的例句和观点。谢谢各位!
《葛传椝英语惯用法词典》在time词条有以下说明,贴出来供大家参考:
……
7.注意下面每句里用属于完成时态的动词。那 that 可有可无:
This is the first time (that) I have seen him.
This is the third time (that) I have been here.
That was the third time (that) I had been there.
8.下面两句意思相同,第二句不算正当:
That was the fourth time for him to leave home.
That was his fourth time to leave home.
这个问题之前也讨论过的:https://www.cpsenglish.com/question/33436
楼主的问题所描述的知识点是2个:
1.Is this your first time to visit Beijing?这句是否有误?国内出版的相关资料很多都认为是无误的,包括”陈用仪“的”英语常用词疑难用法手册”认为可以,然而张满胜老师的“英语新思维语法体系及底层逻辑全解密”的P274页认为不能用不定式。同时,大家已经列出一些原版的权威解释了,牛津的第八,九版time词条下是一个证据,还有一个是Swan的PEU第三,四版,我再提供一个,就是亚历山大的著作“Right Word Wrong Word Words and Structures Confused and Misused”的first time词条下:
- It's the first time I've ever been to America.
(Not *It's my first time to be to/in*)
这里不管用my/his/her/our等,还是用the都不能用不定式。我手头上的资料就只找到上面的例证,而且,没有找到一个用first time to的例子(国内除外)。
我觉得可能有些人把上述的结构与下面的结构搞混了,所以错误认为用不定式是可以的:
I had gone to Brazil for the first time to meet extended family. (正确的)
还有一种不要搞混了:This is my first visit to Beijing.(正确的)
2.It was such bad luck - it was our first time skiing and Nicola broke her leg. (Longman Language Activator第二版P566)
用上面这个简单一点的例子来说明。这里的skiing如何理解,这是第二个问题。其实也不复杂,举几个例子看看:
How did your first time skiing go?
He finished ahead of the Spaniard, and in the process picked up his first time trial win as a pro. (Collins COBUILD English Dictionary1995第二版P1311,第三版也有这句)
my first time driving a car(韦氏高阶wheel词条下)
skiing已经是名词化了,first time当形容词功能修饰后面的skiing,这也可以解释为什么这种first time doing的用法前面会有my/his/her/our存在,而不是用的the。至于first time为什么可以用作定语,不应该是first-time吗?我认为这又回到以前我讨论过的加连字符的问题。从语言的历史来看,之前不用连字符的情况很多,尤其是早一点的词典,现在有所规范。