▲典型错误
※ They described him to be honest.
※ I want to describe you some of the difficulties.
1.describe常与as连用,意为“把……描述为 ……”、“认为……”。例如:
They described him as an honest man.
They described him as honest.
They described him as being honest.
这几句都意为:他们认为他很诚实。
王福祯 主编.英语常见错误词典.成都:四川出版集团·四川辞书出版社.2005.第101页.
疑问:我印象中as和to be一般都是可以互换的,比如consider,think等词后面,那么哪些是不可以换的呢?比如下面的:
He describes himself as a doctor. 他自称是医生。
But people all over the world will always remember him as a superman. 但是全世界的人民将他作为一个超级英雄而铭记。
They denounced him to the police as a criminal. 他们向警方告发他是罪犯。
The dictionary labels the prase as slang. 这一短语在字典里称为俚语。
I used to look on him as a friend. 我以前把他看作是一位朋友。
The book depicts him as a rather unpleasant character. 这本书把他刻画成一个相当令人讨厌的人物。
Many people use education as a steppingstone to a better life. 许多人将教育作为赢得更好的生活的手段。
People in this town know him as a lunatic. 这个镇上的人们称他为疯子。
The president will accredit you as his assistant. 董事长将任命你做他的助理。
The chairman announced Mr. Robert Brown as the sponsor. 大会主席宣布罗勃特·布朗先生为赞助人。
I cannot conceive of him as a genius. 我不能设想他会是一个天才。
I do not think much of her as a musician. 她作为一名音乐家,我认为不怎么样。
She acknowledged him as her heir. 她承认他为自己的继承人。
I cannot accept you as my assistant. 我不能聘你为我的助理。
They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
They adopted an orphan as an heir. 他们立一个孤儿为继承人。
He left them as sacred heirlooms to his children. 他把它们作为神圣的传家宝留给了孩子们。
We styled that as “Polestar”. 我们将其命名为“北极星”。
They hailed him as King. 大家欢呼拥戴他为国王。
Nowadays we see the Great Wall as a symbol of unity. 今天我们把长城看作是团结的象征。
She strikes me as a very efficient person. 在我眼里,她是个很干练的人。
You still deem me as your treasure in your palm. 你还依然把我当成手心里的宝。
语言是讲习惯的,不要随便类比!
▲没错,有不少“动词+宾语+as”结构可以将 as 换成 to be。如:
We appointed him as [=to be] treasurer. 我们任命他为司库。
The press branded him as [=to be] a liar. 报界给他加上了说谎者的臭名。
He never acknowledged the boy as [=to be] his son. 他从不承认这男孩是他的儿子。
He considers this as [=to be] the best book on the subject. 他认为这是有关此问题最好的一部专著。
The Americans chose Mr Clinton as [=to be] president. 美国人选举了克林顿先生任总统。
……
▲但是 describe 不属此类用法。describe…as…的意思是“把……描述是……”“把……说成是……”,其中的as习惯上不能换成to be。如:
She described him as shy. 她说他很害羞。
He describes himself as an artist. 他自称是艺术家。
He was described as (being) very clever. 据说他很聪明。