Functional Grammar of English Group

V-ing or to V? (Assignment 1)

Eng99B Selphie 盧惠珊, Vivian 戴維萱, Lisa 羅翊寧, May 林秀青, Rico 趙子瑩, Elle 溫斐瑱

In junior high school textbooks or other materials students use to study, the editors categorize verbs into three kinds, one after which could be added only the infinitives (e.g. avoid), another gerunds (e.g. enjoy), the other does fine for both infinitives and gerunds (e.g. like). In the third kind, that is, verbs which can be followed by both infinitives and gerunds, the editors subcategorize the members in this group into (a.) verbs whose meanings don’t differ preceding either to V or V-ing. (b.) verbs whose meanings differ according to what is put after them.

A typical member in (a), “like,” is taught to students making no difference followed by to V or V-ing. Textbook editors often have the substitution test for students to substitute “to V” for “V-ing” or “V-ing” for “to V.” However, there ARE indeed differences between the choice of to V and V-ing the members of (a.) To make the differences clear, we would like to examine the real usages by native speakers, to see whether different contexts or purposes of the speech decide the different choices of a gerund or an infinitive.

Examples of like+to V (infinitive)

1. I like to find anything I can possibly find that makes noise
2. I like to sky up there
3. I think I'd like to get involved like that.
4. I'd like to have hair like that.
5. I would like to direct projects like that.
6. …there are a few kids on this team that would like to substitute something like' Sophisticated Blitz Tactics'…

In the above examples, putting “to V” after like seems to imply the feeling of “future,” because when the speakers pronounce these sentences, they aren’t currently doing the things mentioned, and they are expressing the feeling that they are going to fulfill the actions. Also, putting “to V” after like emphasizes the “movement” or the “action” of the infinitive verb. That is, it’s something they want to “do.”

7. …the Democrats like to think of most of the country are fly-over country…
8. They like to be approached.
9. I like the rewards; I like to have something to do; I like to get out of the house.
10. I like to dance slow and fast.
11. …,who also like to visit places like Machu Picchu

In the above examples, the feeling of “futureness” no longer exists. However, the intention to emphasize the movement or the action still occurs, since the sentence would be different if we change, for example, (7) into “…the Democrats like thinking of most of the country are fly-over country…” If “to think” is changed into “thinking,” the idea of the sentence becomes more concrete (the characteristic of nouns.) Compare “…the Democrats like thinking of most of the country are fly-over country…” and “…the Democrats like the idea,” we‘ll find that using a gerund in the sentence makes the sentence closer to the concrete “idea.” The emphasis of the articulation isn’t on the progressive movement of “think.”

Examples of like+ V-ing (gerund)

1. I actually like cooking better.
2. I like eating, I like fucking, I like killing.
3. They like hanging out with me
4. …they like working with teenagers because teenagers are fun.
5. I don't like being woken up like this
6. if you like pizza and you like dogs and you like skiing, try them all.
7. You like telling people what to do?
8. …a guy like that wouldn't like playing in the shadows.
9. I like coaching. I like being part of a very unpredictable and interesting intellectual and physical challenge.
10. It's just that words fly out of his mouth sometimes like stinging wasps.

In all of the above examples, we see that the gerunds indicate the concrete and static state of an idea. That is, if the idea expressed through a gerund happens to have a nominal form, speakers probably could also use the nominal form to achieve the same purpose of the articulation. If we change (2) with similar concepts expressed through nouns “I like food(eating), I like sex(fucking), I like murder(killing,)” then the idea could still be expressed very effectively. The concept aroused in people’s minds tends to be the same, usually a static and concrete idea.

Though the verbs “remember” and “forget” also belong to the third kind of verbs which can be added both infinitives and gerunds, they belong to the subcategory of (b.), verbs whose meanings differ according to what is put after them, to V or V-ing. In the subcategory of (b.), textbook editors generalize a set of grammar rules for students to remember, helping them to distinguish different occasions to use “to V” and “V-ing.” Yet, according to our observation, whether to add to V or V-ing after “remember” and “forget” is actually decided by the same factor (the context, whose emphasis is on the static event or the progressive movement, future or non-future) as after “like.” Here we will illustrate our idea by looking at some “remember + to V” and “remember +V-ing” examples.

Examples of remember +to V (infinitive)

1. I will remember to address your father by his full title in future.
2. You must always remember to shut every gate.
3. I must remember to be cautiously optimistic about that, there's nothing definite.

In most textbooks, the editors state that putting “to V” after “remember” means that someone intends or needs to do something some time in the future. We can tell from the above examples that this kind of usage contains a feeling of “futureness”. As in (1), the speaker will address….some time in the future. In (2) and (3), both the sentences indicate that people have to do certain things next time when encountering the same situation, which again gives the same feeling of “futureness” as in “like+ to V”

Examples of remember + V-ing (gerund)

1. I don't remember doing that.
2. I remember seeing him a couple of times.
3. …and I remember telling this girl who I was chatting up that I played bass.

In all of the above examples, similar to the replacement we did in “like +V-ing”, we could change the gerund and the object into a pronoun and still be effective in communicating our ideas. In (2), if we use “it” to replace “seeing him a couple of times”, the sentence will become “I remember it,” which is often what is said when speakers need to refer to the same event(V-ing) the second time. As a result, we could infer that “V-ing” has a nominative characteristic, and the emphasis of the sentences isn’t on the action but on the static event.

To make clearer our idea that whether to add to V or V-ing after the members of (b) is decided by the same factor (the context, whose emphasis is on the static event or the progressive movement, future or non-future) as after “like,” which is the member of (a.), we would like to look at the verb “stop,” another typical member of (b.) to see whether “V-ing” and “to V” functions the same after stop with our observation.

Examples of stop +to V (infinitive)

1. She did not stop to think, and when the Rabbit ran down a large rabbit-hole, Alice followed it immediately.
2. Some stop to talk to the hunger strikers.
3. At the corner we stop to say hello to Bobby's mother, a weathered woman with a big head, wearing a tartan apron.

We can see from the examples above, “stop + to V” indicates that the speaker doesn’t do what s/he is doing currently any more but begins to do something else(the V). In (3), it is clear that the speakers don’t walk anymore but start to talk to someone else. The usage of “to V” triggers the meaning of a future action or movement.

Examples of stop + V-ing (gerund)

1. Stop thinking --; thinking only makes you scared.
2. She wished he would stop talking for now he was saying…
3. We should stop drinking German wine and beer and stop eating their sausages.

In these sentences above, we can tell that speakers cease something, usually a static state of movements and actions. In (2), the speaker wished her friend would not keep on what he was saying at that time. If, again, we use “it” to replace “talking”, the sentence will become “She wished he would stop it…” The speaker is very likely to articulate such a sentence, if she wants to refer to the same event the second time, just as in the case of “remember+V-ing.”

To conclude, though many textbook editors make no difference between “like +to V” and “like + V-ing”, we can tell from the corpus we have talked about the different selection of patterns actually brings about different meanings or implications. On the other hand, albeit editors tend to emphasize the difference between adding infinitives and gerunds after verbs in the subcategory (b) (e.g. remember and stop), the differences of adding V-ing and to V actually correspond to that after “like,” a member of the subcategory (a). The verbs belonging to different subcategories, (a) and (b), in fact have the same implication and arouse the same ideas or concepts when added infinitives and gerunds respectively.

In junior high schools, the usages of “like” are taught before verbs in the (b) subcategory, such as “remember” and “stop” , but the slight differences of adding V-ing or to V after “like” are usually ignored. But when students start to acquire verbs belonging to the (b) subcategory in the third group, such as remember, forget, and stop, they couldn’t understand the differences suggested by textbook editors and teachers. Therefore, we propose that the differences and similarities of adding V-ing or to V after such verbs as “like,” “forget,” “stop,” etc., both in subcategory (a) and (b), shouldn’t be ignored but should be addressed. Textbook editors and teachers should also help students understand them with the different usages shown to them accompanied by contexts.

Dear all,

你們的觀察方向正確。

以後我們在verbal complement單元中會談到：V-ing基本上較為noun-like, 而to +V 則保有較多的verbal features. 而你們提出的語料觀察，基本上正呼應了這個方向。

Functional Grammar of English Group

組員: 林仲茂 王孝承 楊仲寧 陳祁繁 蕭宇君

◎探討動機

在學習英語的歷程中，不定詞及動名詞佔了相當大的篇幅，除了探討二者句法上的同異，更比較語意上的分別。而在所謂虛主詞 it 替代不定詞及動名詞在句法上的位置，而將語意主詞（即不定詞與動名詞）後移的句型中，組員們發現語意主詞後移之後，產生不定詞及動名詞的不平均分布，以 It + is …to V 型式出現的比例極高，相較之下，It is …Ving 的型式相當罕見。因此，為針對此現象有更進一步的了解，便試圖從坊間參考書籍與文法書中找尋合理的解釋，更經由搜尋語料庫，做初步的假設。

◎中學文法

在國中英文文法中，使用動名詞和不定詞做為主詞是相當的情況，從國二下學期便開始介紹動名詞和不定詞的各類用法。

而於該階段文法中，以動名詞和不定詞為句子主詞是相關文法中的前幾個。國中教師多年教導學生，做為主詞時不定詞等同動名詞，例：Learning English is fun. = To learn English is fun.。其後，便開始教導虛主詞 it為首，將不定詞或動名詞後移作為真主詞，例：To learn /Learning English is fun. = It is fun to learn English.。但就組上組員教學經驗分享，覺得學生有時常會困惑於何故原本均可作主詞之兩種詞類，移往句子後方便只能用 to V 而非 Ving? ( ?It is fun learning English.) 是以，無論國中教師或是補習班老師，每每將此句型公式化教學，將 It is 此一句型作為 trigger，看到此主詞開頭，動詞便立時使用不定詞。此為國中英語教學之一沉疴，是故欲深入探討之。

以下為擷取自坊間參考書籍及文法書中針對此句型之陳述：

(一)

It = Infinitive Phrase, Gerund Phrase, or Noun Clause

結構上的it可以代替不定詞片語、動名詞片語、以及名詞子句。it在下面的句子中不是真的主詞或真的受詞,真正的主詞與真正的受詞可能是不定詞片語、動名詞片語、或者名詞子句。何以用it來替代不定詞片語、動名詞片語、或者名詞子句呢?第一: 不定詞片語、動名詞片語、以及名詞子句觀念上是抽象的,所以可以用it來替代。第二: 不定詞片語、動名詞片語、以及名詞子句都可以當主詞或受詞,但他們往往太過於長。﹝That John forgot the key﹞irritated Mary.這種句型文法上絕對正確,偶爾這麼寫無妨。但常常用不定詞片語、動名詞片語、或者名詞子句當主詞,讓人感覺頭重腳輕,而在英文裡不喜歡頭重腳輕的句子。簡單的說就是不要罹患大頭症。I think﹝that she finished her job all by herself﹞impossible.這種句型的受詞太長,長到造成我們理解的困難。把這個句子改成I think it impossible that she finished her job all by herself.則句意清楚易懂。這裡我們可以深深體會文句子的主詞與受詞太長都不是好現象,即使文法對了,仍然讓人讀起來辛苦。

From: 英文句法精義 句子的萬種風情Sentence Variety Through English Grammar P.190 書林出版有限公司 吳帆 著

2. 有時,會在不定詞之前加入形式上的主詞“for +某人”。

【注意】easy, difficult, fun,…+ for +人。但現在分詞 (-ing),如interesting, exciting, boring, 以及important…要用“for+ 人”,或者“to+ 人”也可以。

3. 上述提到的句型有三個,它們是可以互通的。見下例:

Playing computer games is easy for me.

= To play computer games is easy for me.

=It’s easy for me to play computer games.

From: Go SuperTeens!4 朗文版 斷層掃描英語4 P.117 高昇出版社股份有限公司

（四）

It is +形容詞…句型之辨別

1.句型1: It is +形容詞+ to+原形動詞…(做某事是 的)→表示說或者個人主觀認知

例: It is difficult to study math. (學數學是困難的)

句型2: It is+ 形容詞+for +人+to +原形動詞…。(對某人而言,做某事是…的。)

→主詞是後面“to +原形動詞...”,可省略for+ 某人。

例: It is dangerous for us to swim in the ocean. (對我們而言,在海裡游泳是危險的。)

句型3: It is+ 形容詞+ of +人+ to +原形動詞…。→某人具有某特質而去做某事。

例: It is kind of him to help me move the desk. (他很好心的幫我搬那張桌子。)

From: 雙向溝通複習講義 英語 全 98基本學測專用最新版 P.161 金安文教機構

◎語料庫

為了解此句型真實的使用情況，經由搜尋British National Corpus，以便閱讀真實語料。

由語料庫中可知，可用 It is…Ving之句型僅搜尋到 It is worthwhile Ving 以及 It is no use Ving之用法。但同時，在以上兩種用法中，使用to V的句型亦並存於英文中。（如附錄一中標※號者）是故，我們可以嗅出其中差異，即用to V 或Ving之差別為新舊訊息之陳述，例如：

AS0 787 If he cannot balance and control his movements, it is no use for him to try to practise `;walking'; with the help of therapists or nurses.

A3T 169 It is no use wringing hands and regretting this preference.

正如不定詞和動名詞之用法，動名詞予人舊訊息（即發生過之經驗）之感，不定詞則傳達新訊息（亦即將發生或尚未做），是故中文經常將 to V翻成「去…」，以表達未來感。

遺憾的是，我們並無法由語料庫中，除了It is worthwhile Ving 以及 It is no use Ving用法之外，找到其餘的形容詞同時擁有to V / Ving之用法。/ Ving之用法。

是故，我們並無法再就此一問題做出更深入之探究，是否因大部分形容詞均通用於新訊息之表述？這仍是我們存疑之處。

Dear all,

你們在這裡提出的問題似乎牽涉了太多的variables，以致於模糊了問題的焦點。你們至少提到了以下諸點：

(1) to V vs. V-ing 的不同

(2) It …to V / V-ing / that有何不同

(3) …V it … to V…

也因為問題有些模糊，所以很難聚焦去深入找語料比對分析。

建議先把問題定錨之後，再重新省視。

資料來源：

1. 英文句法精義 句子的萬種風情Sentence Variety Through English Grammar P.190 書林出版有限公司 吳帆 著

2. Azar 英文文法系列(進階)第三版 Understanding And Using English Grammar P.323 敦煌書局 Betty Schrampfer Azar著

3. Go SuperTeens!4 朗文版 斷層掃描英語4 P.117 高昇出版社股份有限公司

4. 雙向溝通複習講義 英語 全 98基本學測專用最新版 P.161 金安文教機構

5. British National Corpus

（附錄一）

以下為語料庫中所得之結果：

It is…to…

CDR 1057 If you really do love your pasta, it is probably best to allow yourself to indulge in a sensible pasta for your main course.

ABG 155 Euro-visionaries claim it is possible to strengthen European defence co-operation in collaboration with America, not in competition with it.

AJX 257 Easing inflation is proving to be a painfully slow process and yesterday's small fall must make any thinking Chancellor wonder whether it is safe to cut interest rates further.

BNV 666 It is my intention to foster the formation of a body of people interested in aerobatics in Scotland, both pilots and non-pilots, with the purpose of increasing the awareness of aerobatics here and of promoting instruction and participation in the sport.

ADF 218 In general, it is best to geld a colt before he is one-year old.

CGF 407 It is interesting to look at how the more extreme case is explained.

※AS0 787 If he cannot balance and control his movements, it is no use for him to try to practise `;walking'; with the help of therapists or nurses.

※A6A 40 It is worthwhile to choose a rehearsal room which suits your music, and stick to it.

※A6A 2395 It is worthwhile for the band to keep some diary notes as to the studios they have used and on which days.

※C9B 972 Winch's criticism of this way of looking at morality, as we have shown, is that it separates the person who acts from the world in which he acts, and a man has to be shown that it is worthwhile for him to act morally.

※CM6 255 But it is worthwhile to reiterate that, in a sense, every book published about recent history is of value as a source and the conventional `;official'; documentation does not necessarily occupy in recent history the commanding place which its comparative isolation in a sea of illiteracy gives it in earlier epochs.

CRX 256 Indeed, it is an oddity that he seemed to see the criminal justice system as being the only aspect of the environment that influences individual decisions about whether it is worthwhile to commit crime or not.

※EW9 1261 It is worthwhile to anticipate events a little and quote at length from the Governors' Statement of that same month:

※H0E 2043 The question is whether it is worthwhile to check out the" priorities even when we seem to have what we want.

※H0U 1054 It is worthwhile to consider some models of polymer structure and ascertain their usefulness as representative volume elements (RVE).

※HU2 4974 It is worthwhile to recall that the specificity of the viral attack seems to be another important variable, as ANA-H and SMA-AA are exceedingly rare in chronic liver disease induced by hepatitis B virus, while a peculiar autoantibody profile has been reported in hepatitis D virus chronic liver disease.

A0H 326 Clearly, it is important to consider each of the ways in which you can safeguard your equipment because it is no use avoiding all the flying hazards if you are going to write off your glider on the ground.

ALW 766 He acknowledged that it is essential to maintain the balance between basic research and commissioned research.

C9W 840 It is better by far for the patient to have a week or so in which to mull over all that has occurred and everything he or she has learnt about the past.

EV4 160 In describing reading as an information-processing skill it is necessary to identify the sources of information and the cognitive processes applied to that information, and to indicate how these sources and processes vary as the skill develops.

EVX 628 What it is in general for a thing a to have the power to produce b is for it to be true that an individual property or properties of a, together with other things, will constitute a causal circumstance for b.

F9B 410 It is difficult to see how unrepresented claimants who fare so badly in tribunals of first instance could expect to fare better at the appellate level; indeed representation has increased considerably over the past few years.

G2G 597 It is hoped also to include a demonstration of the Directory of Cognitive Science/HCI Community.

H7R 124 It is difficult to manufacture a small permanent.magnet rotor with a large number of poles and consequently stepping motors of this type are restricted to step lengths in the range 30-;90 degrees.

J2K 534 It is essential to distinguish different kinds of usage of deictic expression.

B33 921 It is reasonably accurate to say that good teaching comes largely from thorough planning, yet all too often far too little planning time is made available.

C9J 2424 As a piece this was undoubtedly a composed solo, and although on the record quite a few of the phrases were `;dropped in';, it is obviously possible to play through it in one pass.

CG1 447 It is not advisable to attempt this walk in conditions of poor visibility since the plateau is featureless and it's difficult to know when you are close to the Ben Crom crags.

HPU 1242 However, it is necessary to note that there is a limit to the number of variables that can be held constant in this way.

AKE 1691 It is better to do one or two and then opt for more sensible distances.

APR 746 It is believed to be Miss Glover who first encouraged Christabel to embark on the grandiose and obscure epic poem, The Fairy Melusina , a retelling of the old tale of the magical half-woman, half-snake

B76 412 It is now much easier to travel in these areas, but collecting wild cocoa and other species of the rainforest has suddenly become very urgent.

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It is…Ving

CEK 5915 IT IS no use putting all the blame on young drivers for the high number of accidents.

A0W 31 It is no use stimulating muscle growth if your protein intake is insufficient.

A2P 219 It is no use us trying to clobber the economy with high taxation any more than it's any use Lawson clobbering the economy with high interest rates…

A3T 169 It is no use wringing hands and regretting this preference.

AE7 890 But again, it is no use just burning sugars: that would merely make things hot.

A65 752 Most visitors to this region concentrate on the coast but it is worthwhile heading inland where a large network of lanes provides some quiet cycling.

A6A 1691 But, as always, it is worthwhile finding out more about your local station.

AML 631 Nevertheless, it is worthwhile attempting to relate the NVC to what is known about the vegetation.

APC 1185 (It is worthwhile here remembering the jaguar's requirements.)

APX 63 Despite this cloud that appears to be looming over the industry, it is worthwhile bearing in mind that the impact of interest rates and the poll tax is not felt uniformly across the country or among different groups.

AT6 254 Although to start with you can use ordinary sports shoes, in the long term it is worthwhile investing in some purpose-designed windsurfing footwear.

AT6 686 The local sailors are the people who probably know the conditions best, so it is worthwhile speaking to someone who can point out the idiosyncrasies of the location.

B1M 721 In the meantime it is worthwhile continuing to take newspapers and magazines to the paper banks which are close to us.

B1M 811 So it is worthwhile finding cleaning materials that are phosphate free.

C91 575 Special low-current l.e.d. 's are available from several suppliers and it is worthwhile using them.

C92 1220 However, there are some commonly used components where it is worthwhile having two or three of each in stock, and this is my list of suggested buys.

CBC 7646 Virtually anything is possible here and, for a relaxing change of pace, it is worthwhile hunting out a slow boat instead of sticking to a frenetic dash in the fast lane.

CJE 88 It is worthwhile arranging a veterinary check at an early stage, to ensure that your new companion is in good health.

CN2 356 It is worthwhile taking a moment to look at regulation 4 because it governs the whole attitude of the AlB towards its responsibilities.

FTW 1220 It is worthwhile briefly examining Lukacs's ideas on socialist realism at this juncture since they not only provide a constructive critical alternative to the mindless ideological stance adopted by Zhdanov, Radek and Stetsky, but also broaden the global conceptual framework within which to examine Nizan's communist novels.

G0R 963 That being so, it is worthwhile recalling the view of the student that went with that earlier epistemology and which generated the idea of students' academic freedom (or Lernfreiheit , as it was known).

G37 1896 It is worthwhile practising timed starts to get a feel for how fast your yacht accelerates and slows down, and how long it takes to cover a certain distance.

GU6 112 Since such divisions held sway prior to Ridge, and have on occasion reappeared, it is worthwhile examining the value of such criteria.

GWK 502 It is worthwhile looking at the advantages and disadvantages of copyright at a time when it has achieved worldwide acceptability.

H0J 306 If you own a computer it is worthwhile entering all your vocabulary on to a disk from early on in your programme.

H9M 877 It is worthwhile restating here what those results are.

HAC 2100 At least once a year it is worthwhile taking a look inside your machine.

HB6 715 When dealing with a claim for freezer contents it is worthwhile considering the capacity of the freezer in relation to the size of the claim.

HWF 1133 It is worthwhile carrying out QA on packages before major review points such as a critical design review.

HWF 14044 LIFESPAN will perform this check during the approval process, but it is worthwhile knowing that it can also be performed by the user, thus avoiding any inconvenience to himself or the approver.

HXD 1076 Bearing this in mind (and the same applies to the unregistered design right generally and to copyright works) it is worthwhile keeping good records of the development of the topography so that the date it was created can be proved in a court of law.

J1E 67 It is worthwhile noting that Liverpool have spent a colossal amount rebuilding Anfield in addition to their outlay on linguistically-challenged scandinavian defenders.

J2L 1384 It is worthwhile recalling here that the great pavement at Woodchester is the largest domestic mosaic north of the Alps.

K90 567 It is worthwhile recognising that in the attenuation bands of the purely reactive ladder filters considered, the characteristic impedances are pure reactances because .

Functional Grammar of English Group 2

Assignment 1-1

Topic: “(person) + take + time + to V…”
1. Motivation:
One of our group members, Jessica, is a part-time English tutor. One day while she was tutoring a junior high school student, her student asked a question: “Can we say, ‘I take how much time to do something.’?” According to junior high school grammar, we can only say, “I spend how much time doing something.” or “Doing something takes me how much time.” Therefore, Jessica said, “No. This is ungrammatical.”
Later Jessica could not help but keep thinking about this question, and she thought of a phrase: “take your time.” Jessica wondered, “If we can say, ‘You may just take your time. Don’t rush.’ then why can’t we say, ‘I take how much time to do something.’?” In order to make sure whether this sentence can be considered grammatical by English native speakers, Jessica e-mailed Jean Curran, an instructor in the Dept. of English of NTNU, to ask this question.
Jean replied and this was her idea:
In regards to your question. Yes, this sentence sounds okay to me from the point of view that people do make statements using this phrase. For example, "I need to take a little time to think this over. I'll get back to you next week."
Jean is an English native speaker from the United States. If Jean thinks that it is okay to say, “I take how much time to do something.” then why junior high school grammar says that this is ungrammatical? Due to this contradiction between the grammar rule that we learn at school and an English native speaker’s idea, Jessica decided to make this question a research question in Assignment 1 of Functional Grammar.
2. Findings
According to the corpus data that we found, the sentence structure “(person) + take + time + to V…” is seldom used. Moreover, the pattern is usually “(person) + take time/some time + to V…” (without a specific idea of how much time), and some of the contexts are imperative sentences.
However, we still found a sentence that fit our expectation. In “I took five hours to write my speech: Rahul Gandhi,” we can see the specific description of time “five hours.” But this is the only result that has a specific idea of how much time the person takes.


3. Conclusion
Although English native speakers think that it is okay to say, “I take time to do something,” this structure is really seldom used in writing. (Our corpus is all from written documents.)
As English teachers-to-be, we all agree that while teaching English grammar, we should still teach the standard grammar “person + spend + time + V-ing…” but also tell students that English native speakers may use the structure “(person) + take time/some time + to V…” in their daily life. In this case, we also want to focus on the fact that this structure is seldom used in writing and we non-native English speakers should use the standard grammar in learning. Therefore, we will tell students not to use the structure “(person) + take time/some time + to V…” although it is considered acceptable by English native speaker.
Appendix
Corpus for the Result “(person) + take + time + to V…”

Some Selected Contexts from BNC
A0J 884 First, take time to talk to your husband or wife, or perhaps your family doctor, other parents or teachers
A7N 773 We cant take time to talk to the stylist before they wield the scissors.
A7N 791 Take time to tell him something about your tastes and lifestyle --; and the sort of style you think might suit you.
CG3 1203 Take some time to bathe in short stories and look particularly at what the author is doing with the characters and the setting.

Some Selected Contexts from Time Magazine
Most corpus follows the standard grammar except for data 19231029

19230309
which the firm will handle as fiscal agent for Great Britain. This work will take years to consummate and unnusual financial ability to direct. Mr. Leffingwell's knowledge of
19230827
jokes repeat every two or three years, others (like Halley's Comet) take longer. A little luck-and you can predict unerringly just what grey-bearded quips will march
19230903
days to remove the enemy wounded. Furthermore, the communiqu states that it will take several days to remove the vast quantities of supplies captured from the Spanish forces.
19230903
moon's shadow from one edge of the sun's disk to the other will take about 2 hours and 55 minutes in the path of totality, but less than
19231029
would be renominated almost without opposition. # The President decided that he could not take the time from official business to attend the Army-Navy, Princeton-Navy football games. He
19231203
) being required for its production. Even with the new support, it will take two years more to prepare the serum for public use. It is not a
19230917
three years. The substitution of automatic for manual exchanges throughout London is expected to take about 15 years. # Said The Times: " Each exchange will carry 9,999
19231008
a play in rehearsal is worth six in the manager's safe. It may take him three years to lift it from his shelf and feed it to the actors
19240114
something of destiny in the incident.... Well, it didn't take me long to get an introduction.... For quite a while- several

A Selected Contexts from sify news
New Delhi: Nehru-Gandhi scion and the Congress Member of Parliament from Amethi, Rahul Gandhi, told this correspondent, that he took five hours to write his speech on Monday that he delivered in the Lower House on Tuesday.


Assignment 1-2
Topic: “Because…; Result from…, now that…;seeing that…; on account of…; owing to…;thanks to…; Due to…; Since,…;as a result of…; As…; Given to…”

1. 研究動機
我們在學習英文的過程當中，學到了很多表示「因為」的從屬連接詞和片語。但是很多時候我們並不清楚他們的差異，且很多坊間參考書都將這些連接詞或片語上等號。然而對於此文法表示存疑，並想試著找出不同之處以及適當的使用時機。
2. 研究方法及資料來源
-教師手冊或參考書
-線上字典(主要使用Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)
-語料庫(COCA, BNC, OED)

教師手冊或參考書
在康軒版的國二下(第四冊)第九課，出現了because這個單字。但教師手冊只有簡單地講解用法，並無另外補充。
在遠東版的高一下(第二冊)第九課出現了because，但也只簡單說明並無另外補充。高二上(第三冊)第十二課，出現了now that的文法，但教師手冊也只簡單講解其為連接詞，且常會省略that。除此之外並無另外補充其他片語或連接詞。高三下(第六冊)第七課出現了for，但是也只講其用法，並無另外補充或比較。
在參考書「翰林贏家翻譯句型60則」中，找到的解釋是說:[和Because of 相似的片語尚有owing to, due to, thanks to, as a result of, on account of等]，也就是整理出的這幾個片語都是類似的。

線上字典
A: Seeing that
idiom.
seeing that ... (also informal seeing as (how) ...)
because of the fact that ...:
Seeing that he’s been off sick all week he’s unlikely to come.

B: on account of
idiom.
because of sb/sth:
She retired early on account of ill health.
The marsh is an area of great scientific interest on account of its wild flowers.

C: owing to
prep.
because of:
The game was cancelled owing to torrential rain.
Owing to his illness, he could not continue with his studies.

D: since
conj.
because; as: We thought that, since we were in the area, we’d stop by and see them.

E: thanks to
idiom.
thanks to sb/sth (sometimes ironic) used to say that sth has happened because of sb/sth: It was all a great success—thanks to a lot of hard work. Everyone knows about it now, thanks to you!

F: due to
adj.
CAUSED BY
[not before noun] ~ to sth/sb caused by sb/sth; because of sb/sth: The team’s success was largely due to her efforts. Most of the problems were due to human error. The project had to be abandoned due to a lack of government funding. Due to staff shortages, we are unable to offer a full buffet service on this train.
Help: Some people think that it is more correct to use owing to to mean ‘because of’ after a verb or at the beginning of a clause, as due is an adjective.

G: because
conj. for the reason that: I did it because he told me to.
Just because I don’t complain, people think I’m satisfied.
because of prep.: They are here because of us. He walked slowly because of his bad leg. Because of his wife('s) being there, I said nothing about it.

-活用圖解英文法 建宏出版 :
because(因為) [語氣最強] :I did not go out because it rained.
As (因為;既然) [語氣較弱] : As you are in poor health, you should not stay up late.

H: result from
result- verb [V] ~ (from sth) to happen because of sth else that happened first: job losses resulting from changes in production
-參考書等不把result from歸類於因為這塊解釋…,通常翻作’起因於’





I: now that
now conj.~ (that) ... because the thing mentioned is happening or has just happened: Now that the kids have left home we’ve got a lot of extra space.
-活用圖解英文法 建宏出版 :
since=now (that)=seeing (that) (因為;既然): Since you asked, I will tell you.
Seeing that it’s raining, you had better stay indoors.

J: as a result of
result~ (of sth) a thing that is caused or produced because of sth else
→She died as a result of her injuries. PPEN

K: as
as (Conj.)--used to state the reason for sth.
→As you were out, I left a message.
→She may need some help as she’s new.

L: given to
given (prep.) when you consider sth.
→Given his age, (= considering how old he is) he’s remarkably active.
→Given her interest in children, teaching seems the right job for her.

語料庫
使用頻率和使用年代
COCA




















小結
seeing that:
使用頻率非常低，主要是在1500s-1900s，其他時候，幾乎少人使用。在使用的領域上，seeing that多用在口語方面，on account of則用在fiction。
owing to:
在1920年代，是它使用的高峰，但是到了30s就較少人使用(斷層相當大)，但到了近代1990s,2000s則又漸多人用，但比起1920s還是少的了。1700s 1800s 1900s，都是其使用高峰，以1800s為最高，之後也是漸漸下滑了。在使用領域方面主要是以學術為主。
on account of:
也是在1920s為最多人使用，和owning to一樣到了30s就較少人使用(斷層也相當大)，可是使用頻率較owning to少，且在近代也沒有任何起色。在1700s1800s是他的高峰期，十分活躍，到了1900s2000s就下滑了。
since:
可以看出since被大量使用(不過仍須考慮since有其他的用法)，不管在各領域或年代都廣泛被使用。一樣的，since是個出現頻率很高的用詞。在使用年代方面，since的使用頻率以相對較穩定的情況成長。
thanks to:
而thanks to不知為何在雜誌中使用最多，且在近代使用頻率逐漸上升。在新聞報紙上使用的頻率遠高於其他領域。使用頻率則是在20和21世紀使突然成長。
due to:
due to在學術方面較常使用，其他領域則較少。在新聞報紙上使用的頻率遠高於其他領域。使用頻率則是在20和21世紀使突然成長。

because:
首先,由BNC使用頻率的長條圖可知,because在不同種類的context中被使用的比例有極大差別, because絕大部分出現在spoken context,其次由文書形式fiction等. 很容易的我們會想到because這個字似乎本來就較口語話,也較不正式,所以在newspaper和academic等較正式的文書中出現頻率較低,推論也許是在academic中會聽起來更”專業化”的字會較被接受。
若從OED歷史使用趨勢長條圖來看，because被使用的趨勢差不多,很難再做進一步推論。





result from:
從BNC使用頻率的長條圖中，可明顯看到result from於academic中被大量使用,反而其他較生活化的spoken或可能含有較多對話及劇情的fiction比例就少很多.
若從OED歷史使用趨勢長條圖來看，result from在1980s使用頻率較高,初步推測可能與政治情勢相關,不便再推論。

now that:
BNC使用頻率的長條圖：Now that 此組詞在口語語料中佔絕大多數,而在academic及newspaper等較正式的文書語料中比例少很多,顯示now that和because一樣屬於較colloquial的 ‘因為’說法。
OED歷史使用趨勢長條圖：1990s到現在使用比例上升,在現代似乎被大量使用,但以後會不會從口語擴及到正式文書的使用則有待觀察

as a result of:
自1990年起迄今， “as a result of”的使用尚稱平均，而在使用的領域上，尤以「學術」領域(Academic)為最多，為口說(Spoken)領域的2~3倍之多。
“as a result of”主要使用於較正式的學術文章，其次是報紙用詞，以及口說英語。
此外，“as a result of”這個片語，基本上只有「因為」一解，沒有其他解釋，最常出現在句首。

as:
“as”一字自1300年起開始被大量使用，一直到今天。
“as” 是一個多用途且被大量使用的字，據推測，這是由於 “as”並不只有「因為」一個意思，它也可以表示「當……的時候」、「像……一樣」，等等的解釋。
“as”在書寫的文章─學術論文、雜誌、報紙、小說─的使用上遠較口說語用多。
given to:
自1600年起，given to被使用的頻率開始增加，主要的使用情境是學術文章。然而，given to當「因為」解釋只是部分的情況，許多時候它是和Be動詞一起用，當「熱衷於……」解釋。

語料
seeing that
6 1906 Ibid. 27 Mar. 6/7 Seeing that they are Free Traders, and most of us are Protectionists, their talking fiscalism would not be very helpful.
11 1913 Chambers's Jrnl. Aug. 621/1 Seeing that elm is plentiful and extremely low in price, Powellising should result in its more extended application.
21 1933 Punch 12 July 51/2 It is not an easy part, seeing that it is the only character in the whole cast to be drawn in the round.
8 1832 Life in Wilds iii. 40 Seeing that greater strength of finger was what they wanted, he offered his services.
2 1715 Own Time III. (1724) I.... Seeing that he was losing ground at Court, he intended to recover himself a little with the people.

on account of
1 Mod. On account of the snow, the cars on the tramways in London ceased running at eight o'clock.
6 1902 Blazed Trail xxix. 204 They were locked through after some delay on account of the * grain barges from Duluth.
31 1918 Alternating Current Electr.... On account of the fact that it must run at a speed rather less than that of synchronism, the induction motor is sometimes termed an asynchronous motor.
43 1926 Jrnl. Iron & Steel Inst... On account of the titanium alloy being of only 17 per cent. strength, it is not practicable to kill a heat of steel with titanium only.
96 1967 Sweet Ride x. 170 They'll know at the station, on account of they gas up there sometimes.

owing to
1 2008 FIC Analog the dispute might draw the attention of the Galactic Hegemony's Court, which, owing to the tendency of the court's officers to quell disputes with draconian force,
114 2006 MAG SatEvenPost wry satisfaction in learning that at least one of your predictions has come true. Owing to a slight miscarriage in my plans, Mr. Jorgensen became violently enraged under circumstances
119 2006 ACAD HealthSocialW alternative explanation for differences in attendance rates is differences in the demands of attendance. Owing to their lower educational attainment, elderly African Americans may have more trouble managing the
133 2006 ACAD OrthoNursing , the equation is used to calculate the RWL for the selected task parameters. Owing to the limitations in the data used to derive the equation, the assessment of
140 2006 ACAD SocialWork identity, receive acceptance, and enjoy a sense of belonging in their families. Owing to the recency of adopting African children, we were unable to find research data

Since
2008 SPOK CBS_Sixty our jumping-off point for the final leg up to the rainforest the next day. Since the villagers own the land we wanted to visit, we needed their blessing.

2008 FIC Bk:Succubustop play and watch his meal at the same time. It wasn't easy, since he insisted on wearing sunglasses while playing, which then had to be removed while

2008 ACAD VisualImpair There is a lack of consensus on the precise definition of spirituality, since it is a subjective experience that is intertwined with other aspects of existence; furthermore
K8U 2246 If governments had not run such deficits then the slump would have been far deeper, since the deficits worked partially to offset the collapse in demand which resulted from the big increase in OPEC savings and fall in investment.
HPU 990 American firms were among the first to confront a national mass market since the market for consumer goods was huge, the whole of the country being a free trade area for business firms.
1859 Bertrams II. v. 109 Some time since she was giving advice that it should be broken off, and now she was au d / sespoir because that result had been reached.

thanks to
2008 FIC Bk:SecretsHighlander Mr. Gregor, is that having a bunch of sons is no longer important. Thanks to modern technology, being female is more often a strength than a weakness.

2008 MAG TownCountry The Ailey company turns fifty this year and is still a force for innovation, thanks to the canny stewardship of Judith Jamison -- its artistic director and the signature Ailey…
KAP 375 (Now thanks to Nancy Barclay's resourcefulness and the generosity of her employers we are storing books for Christian Aid in a lawyers' office until Mrs. Paton's cellar is ready again).
K21 327 The Association chairman says their finances are now in order, thanks to the generosity of Conservative supporters.
HX8 692 Many thanks to everyone who helped to make the `;Fitness for Fun'; session at Crystal Palace such a great success.
HAW 68 Many thanks to everyone who contributed especially the children for all their artistic efforts!

due to
A43 297 The rise was principally due to higher prices of imported food processing material, underlining City concern over the inflationary impact of a weakening pound.
AMD 2740 If, due to events beyond our control, we are no longer able to provide the holiday booked, we will return to you all monies paid, or offer you an alternative holiday of comparable standard.
C9W 539 I found it interesting, however, that Maxine --; or Martha --; experienced no anxiety due to the nearness of the sea, even when she described to me a violent storm when giant waves lashed the walls of the seaside dwellings.
EB7 248 This has been due to the lack of understanding of the origins of this pottery.
FU3 1503 How far was the decline of the Liberal party, 1906-;24, due to the impact of the First World War?


Because
Concordancerhttp://www.edict.com.hk/scripts/wconcapp.dll?SearchStr=because&Corpus=Articles1.txt
1. This is a space whose geometry can not be seen from any other domain. It may arise because a space has been reserved for an, as yet, undefined component or because the person initiating the search has no authority to see the information contained within that domain.
2. It is hoped that a full scale project will be set in motion at a later date but, because it is primarily operational in nature and the expert system is only a part, it is
3. The inability to speedily and correctly diagnose aircraft system and component failures because good diagnostic skills are in short supply leads to departure delays and possible compromises in safety.
4. The reasons for these two situations arising could be because the correct word is not in the word list, but this
5. system to date is that of the human information processing system. This is largely because human readers use an understanding of the text that can guide the reading process.

result from
Concordancer
1. Since the fire at the premises of the defendants was caused by their employee's negligence, and since it was reasonably foreseeable that firemen would be required to attend the fire and that an explosion of the kind which occurred might result from the fire, the defendants were liable to the plaintiff.
2. Even without the element of uncertainty, however, potential plaintiffs may be reluctant to inflict on the company the disruption that an action against a director can involve, or expose it to the unfavourable publicity that might result from airing its difficulties in public. The problem of the damage that may result from litigation is undoubtedly a real one, and argues against giving shareholders unrestricted standing to sue, which might otherwise
3. Drainage may also be necessary and a pioneer crop may be required in the first year. A less sudden change can result from burning of vegetation (especially moors) coupled with more intensive grazing in order to preferentially encourage grasses rather than ericaceous plants (heather and heaths).

now that
Concordance
1. So not every teacher was one hundred per cent successful with mixed ability teaching, but I don't think one can ever expect that with a new method and I think now that the system has been running for a number of years in the school that it's possible for each department to support new members of staff and introduce them to the appropriate methods and approaches to mixed ability classes.
2. Lord Alexander says now that the Development Plans were never taken seriously, that it was then thought "a nonsense" to try to project five years ahead.



















3. 結論
關於owing to, on account of, seeing that這三個片語，從參考書及字典中查出的解釋來看，基本上的意思差異不大，都說是because of ，重大的差別應該是他們的流行時間不同。例如, seeing that 就是屬於15-19世紀的用語，使用頻率上owing to > on account of > seeing that。
但在近代這三個片語已經較少人使用了(owning to 有上漲趨勢)。這幾個詞的差異還是跟社會的使用習慣比較相關。
根據劉毅所編著的「文法寶典」提出的，since的語氣強度介於because和as中間，且常放在句首，且原因通常是對方已知的。但是否有其他的差別仍不清楚。
而關於thanks to，因為這個用法有 “感謝…”之意，後來延伸用於 “因為…” “由於…”所以猜測會用這個片語的時機是，後面要說明一個非常重要或值得感謝的情形，且內容通常是說者認為比較正面、較好的結果。(但是當做反諷的情形也可能出現)
而due to，根據數比語料的觀察和推測，覺得說會用到due to的情況是，通常後面接的原因是比較負面的，或是對說者來說較為負面的原因，或是整個context內容是屬於比較不理想的情況。
至於because，它後面加的很多都是new information,功能是補充說明主要子句。 而(S+V….) / N result from … 通常會先有一個陳述再用result from,而後面所接多為強調說明語氣的new information, 所以這可能造成result from在口語中的不普及,以及在academic中佔大多數(academic在陳述原因時可能會用looked more objective, more emphatic的詞組,而這兩點result from似乎優於because)。
由語料庫的例句中可看到now that不管是語意或用法都與典型的因為很不同,靠它相連的兩個句
子並沒有很直接,因果關係地關聯, now that後面所接的句子似乎用於說明一個新狀況或轉變後的情況,然
後再帶出speaker對這個狀況的決定或推論
“as”在學術文章、小說、報紙中的被廣泛使用，然而，這樣簡單的字卻在口說語用上不被列為首選，我們推測這是因為在書寫的文章中，讀者透過context可以了解 “as”的意思，然而，在口說上，人們似乎喜歡選用其他可以直接表示「因為」的字詞來表達，例如：because就是一個相當好的証明，Corpus長條圖即說明了because多使用在口說用語中，比報紙、學術文章、小說來的多很多。
“Given to”當「因為」的用法不多見，我們推測「因為」這個意思是自「如果有；考慮到」延伸過來的，然而，這個用法被參考書歸到「因為」的片語欄中，我們覺得並不是那麼恰當，因為這只是延伸的意思。
由以上這些發現、推論，我們認為：既然這些表示「因為」的用語各有其使用的情境和時機，參考書和教師手冊將它們畫上等號、列為相等，實屬不夠周詳。

Sources:
國中英語 康軒出版社
遠東高中英文 遠東出版社
劉毅編著 文法寶典 學習出版社
COCA: http://www.americancorpus.org/
BNC: http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/
OED: http://corpus.byu.edu/oed/
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary:
http://www.oup.com/elt/catalogue/teachersites/oald7/?cc=global