「sit」和「seat」: 及物 / 不及物(transitive / intransitive) 動詞對例子
前一篇newsletter,我拿主題樂園中常見的一句「please remain seated」作為切入點,分析了動詞「seat」及它的過去分詞「seated」。後者也因為經常被頻繁使用,已演變成一個獨立的形容詞,意思是「在安坐狀態的」。
這次,我們來討論一下同為動詞的「seat」和「sit」的區別。
我們已經知道「seat」是及物(transitive)動詞,意思是「安頓某人坐好」。例如:
We will seat the guests soon.
我們快會安排賓客入座
「及物」動詞是指(在表達某特定意思時)需要連接直接賓語的動詞,而「不及物」(intransitive)動詞(在表達特定意思時)則不會連接直接賓語。
當「seat」要表達「安頓某人坐好」的意思時,它是及物的。上述例句中,限定動詞「will seat」的後面有直接賓語「the guests」。「the guests」是直接接受「will seat」這動作的對象。
現在看動詞「sit」的例子:
We are sitting near the stage.
我們坐在近舞台的地方
We will sit down soon.
我們很快會坐下
與「seat」不同,無論是表達「坐下來」(如第二例句中,從站著到坐下的動作),還是表達「進行坐著的動作」(如第一例句中,進行坐著的這個動作),「sit」都是不及物的。句子中的主語就是「sit」動作的實行者,文法結構上,不會連接直接賓語。
從這些例子可見,雖然兩者都是表達關於「坐下」的動詞(因為它們有著相同的字源),「seat」是及物的,意思是「安頓某人坐好」;而「sit」不及物,意思是「(主語)進行坐的動作」。
所以即使你覺得這兩個動詞十分相似,甚至可能容易混淆,因為它們無論在字形、發音和意思上都頗為接近,但你也不可以將兩者互換使用。因為它們一個有及物性(連接直接賓語)的文法特徵,另一個則有著不及物性(沒有直接賓語)文法特徵。
例如:
We will seat the guests soon. ✔️
我們快會安排賓客入座
We will sit the guests soon. ❌
我們不能用「sit」來表達「安排某人入座」,因為它是個不及物動詞,並不會連接直接賓語去表達這樣的意思。因此第二個例子中,動詞「sit」和直接賓語「the guests」的配搭是錯誤的,這違反了動詞「sit」的特徵和意思。
例如:
We are sitting near the stage. ✔️
我們坐在近舞台的地方
We are seating near the stage. ❌
同樣的,我們也不能轉用動詞「seat」來表達「sit」的意思,因為這也違反了它的特徵和含義。上面的第二組例句是錯的,「seat」的動詞意思是「安排某人入座」,不能被當成是不及物動詞使用,去表達「進行坐著的動作」。
再舉個例子:
Please sit down / Please sit. ✔️
請坐下
Please seat. ❌
如果我們想請某人坐下,可以說「please sit.」。
這句的不及物動詞「sit」有命令語氣(imperative)的限定字形 – 我們是直面某對象(「you」)說出這話,主語是會省略的。
這句中是不及物的「sit」,因為「you」是被指示去進行「坐下」動作的執行者。
但如果用「please seat*」去表達「請坐下」是不行的,因為「seat」是及物動詞,連接直接賓語後意思為「安頓某人入坐」。
因此我們當然可以說:
Please seat the guests now. ✔️
現在請安排賓客入座
Please sit the guests now. ❌
在以上正確的例句中,「seat」也具有命令語氣(imperative)字形,但這次整句意思和文法結構則合乎其及物特徵,連接了直接賓語,表達出「安頓某人入坐」行動的接受者。
同樣,「please sit the guests*」是錯誤的,因為「sit」是不及物動詞,其特徵和意思都不一樣。
那麼「please be seated」又如何呢?
上次我也說過,由於「seat」是及物的,它可以(也經常)以被動語態(passive voice)的字形出現。但「sit」在表達「某人進行坐下的動作」時是不及物的,所以並不會以被動字形出現。*
因此,「please be seated」中的「seat」,是動詞「seat」的 past participle 字形 — 這我在前一篇已詳細解釋過了。(任何被動語態的限定動詞字形都會包含該動詞的past participle字形。)
而且因為常用,本有被動的「被安頓坐好了」意思的 past participle「seated」成為了一個獨立的形容詞,意思變為更廣的「在坐著狀態的」,即在「please be seated」中的「seated」。
句子中的「be」具有命令語氣,整句的意思是「請要在坐著的狀態」。(可以拿「Please be quiet 請要安靜」作對比)
也就是說,「please sit」和「please be seated」意思是相同的。但實際使用上,「please be seated」聽起來會禮貌一點,因為它似乎是個比較不那麼直接的指令。**
關於「sit」和「seat」還要留意一點,就是它們的母音是不同的,但前後子音都一樣。「sit」是 /sɪt/,有短促母音 /ɪ/,而「seat」有 /sit/,有相對拉長的母音 /i/。
發音上,這樣 /ɪt/ 和 /it/ 的一對,對廣東話母語人士來說是自然很困難的,這關乎廣東話和英文音節的語音特徵的分別。有機會再談(這亦會是我們往後的進階發音課程中的其中一個大主題)。
最後一提,英文與其他許多語言一樣,都有不少字源相同、意思相近,但卻分別是及物和不及物的動詞對,例如「seat」和「sit」。
你須要留意這些對詞中哪個是及物,哪個是不及物,才能正確地表達自己的意思。
像是動詞「lay」和「lie」,以及「raise」和「rise」等,都是這種對詞的例子。
我們在下一篇會對此作更深入的探討。
____________
小練習:
以下句子應該用及物的「seat」還是不及物的「sit」?(記得要選用合適的字形)
The judges have already been ______________ .
評判已經被安排入座
They told us that the judges will ______________ over there.
他們告訴我們評判會坐在那邊
_________________
“seated”
“sit”
_________________
備註:
*
「Sit」其實也可以被動字形出現的(只是這不太自然)。情況是,如果子句中有額外的介詞組作為修飾語,而介詞組中的名詞組又被抽出成為該被動字形的主語,例如:
We sat at the table. –> The table was sat at. (結構上可行但不自然,很少出現)
不過這涉及另一個複雜而長篇幅的解說,這裡暫不討論。
**
注意為何這些句子都不正確:
Please seat.*
Please be sat / sitted.*
「Seat」是及物的,因此在表達意思時不能沒有直接賓語;「Sit」是不及物的,因此不會出現被動字形,而它的過去分詞「sat」也不帶被動的含意。(我曾見過有人寫「sitted*」– 它甚至不是「sit」的過去分詞,應該純粹是與「seated」字形混淆了。)
________________________
“Sit” and “seat”: An Example of an Intransitive/Transitive Verb Pair
In the last newsletter, I used the sentence “please remain seated” from an amusement park as a jumping-off point to discuss the verb “seat” and its past participle “seated,” which has become, through frequent use, an adjective with the meaning of “in the state of sitting” (在安坐狀態的).
This time, I want to explain the difference between the verbs “seat” and “sit.”
From last time, we know that “seat” is a transitive verb that means “安頓某人坐下.” For example:
We will seat the guests soon.
我們快會安排賓客入座
As a reminder – transitive verbs are ones that (when expressing a particular meaning) have a direct object, and intransitive verbs are ones that (when expressing a particular meaning) have no direct object.
“Seat,” when it expresses the meaning of “安頓某人坐下,” is transitive. We can see from this example that it is transitive because the finite verb “will seat” has a direct object, “the guests,” directly after it, receiving its action directly. As in, “the guests” is the “entity” that “receives” the action of “will seat” directly in this example.
Now, let’s look at an example of the verb “sit”:
We are sitting near the stage.
我們坐在近舞台的方向
We will sit down soon.
我們很快會坐下
In contrast to “seat,” the verb “sit” is intransitive both when it expresses the meaning of 坐下來(going from standing to sitting, like in the second example), and 進行坐著的動作 (doing the action of “sitting,” like in the first example). There is no direct object – the subject is the entity in the sentence that does the action of “sitting.”
From these examples, we can see that, although “seat” and “sit” are two verbs that both express meanings related to action of “sitting” (because they come from the same word root), the former is transitive and expresses the meaning of “making someone do the action of sitting,” whereas the latter is intransitive and expresses the meaning of “the subject doing the action of sitting.”
So, even though these two verbs might seem similar to you and are easy to confuse because their forms/pronunciations and meanings are similar, you cannot use them interchangeably, because one has the grammatical property of being transitive (with a direct object) and the other has the grammatical property of being intransitive (without a direct object).
For example:
We will seat the guests soon. ✔️
我們快會安排賓客入座
We will sit the guests soon. ❌
We cannot express the meaning of “安排某人入座” with the verb “sit” because this verb is intransitive and does not take a direct object to express “make someone sit.” The second example, with the verb “sit” and a direct object, “the guests,” is wrong because this violates the property and meaning of the verb “sit.”
For example:
We are sitting near the stage. ✔️
我們坐在近舞台的方向
We are seating near the stage. ❌
Likewise, we cannot use the verb “seat” intransitively to mean the same thing as “sit” because this would violate the property and meaning of this verb. The second example is wrong because, in it, “seat” is being used as an intransitive verb to mean “doing the action of sitting” when this verb means “making someone sit.”
Last example:
Please sit down / Please sit. ✔️
請坐下
Please seat. ❌
When we want to ask someone to sit down, we can say “please sit.”
In this sentence, the intransitive verb “sit” has imperative mood – we are directing this to someone (“you”), and, so, there is no subject. This is correct in terms of the property of this intransitive verb because the “you” is asked to do the action of “sitting.”
However, saying “please seat*” to mean 請坐下 would not be okay because “seat” is a transitive verb meaning “making someone sit” when it has a direct object.
So, of course we can have a sentence like:
Please seat the guests now. ✔️
現在請安排賓客入座
Please sit the guests now. ❌
In the correct example here, “seat” is also in imperative mood, but it is correctly showing its property of being transitive, with a direct object acting as the recipient of the action of “安排某人入座.” In the same way, “please sit the guests*” is not okay because “sit,” again, does not have the same property and meaning as “seat” and is intransitive.
How about the sentence “please be seated”?
Like I mentioned last time – because “seat” is transitive, it can appear (and often does appear) in passive form. “Sit,” however, is intransitive when expressing this meaning of “someone doing the action of sitting,” so it would not appear in passive form.*
So, the form “seated” in “please be seated” is the past participle of the verb “seat,” which I explained at length last time. (Passive forms always involve the past participle form of the verb).
Through common use, the past participle “seated” has independently gained the meaning of “在坐著狀態的” as an adjective, and this is the “seated” that we find in “please be seated.”
The “be” in this sentence is in imperative mood, so the sentence means “please be in the state of sitting.” (Compare this to: “Please be quiet.”)
In other words, “please sit” and “please be seated” both mean the same thing. In usage, “please be seated” is more polite in tone because it is seen as “less direct” a command.**
Another point to note about “sit” and “seat” is of course that they have different vowel phonemes despite the same starting and ending consonants. “Sit” has the “short” /ɪ/ as its vowel, and “seat” has the more drawn out /i/ as its vowel.
Word pairs in English that have /ɪt/ and /it/ respectively are naturally difficult for Cantonese speakers because of certain differences between the phonological characteristics of English and Cantonese. I will talk about these next time when I have a chance. (This is also a big topic in our upcoming Advanced Course on pronunciation.)
Now, English, just like many other languages, has many pairs of words from the same roots that express similar meanings but are respectively transitive and intransitive, just like “seat” / “sit.”
You need to be aware of which ones of these pairs are transitive and intransitive in order to use them correctly to express your meaning.
For example, the verbs “lay” / “lie” and “raise” / “rise” are examples of other such word pairs.
Let’s look at these in more detail next time.
____________
Mini Exercise:
Should the following sentences have the transitive “seat” or intransitive “sit”?
(Use the appropriate forms of the verbs as well.)
a) The judges have already been ______________ .
評判已經被安排入座
b) They told us that the judges will ______________ over there.
他們告訴我們評判會坐在那邊
_________________
a) “seated”
b) “sit”
_________________
Notes:
*
“Sit” could appear in passive form (but it is unnatural) when there is an extra prepositional phrase modifier in the clause, and the the noun phrase in the prepositional phrase is taken out to be the subject of the passive form, like:
We sat at the table. –> The table was sat at. (correct but unnatural)
But this involves another lengthy and involved explanation that is not relevant here.
**
Just be aware why these sentences are both not correct:
Please seat.*
Please be sat / sitted.*
“Seat” is transitive so it cannot be without a direct object when expressing its meaning, and “sit” is intransitive, so it would not be in passive form, and its past participle “sat” would not carry a passive meaning (I have also seen someone write the form “sitted*” – which is not even the past participle form of the verb “sit” and was used purely in confusion with “seated.”)
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