Question

appreciate和grateful的不同用法

Answer 1

appreciate
(adj.) appreciative (inappreciative); (n.) appreciation
appreciate作为“感激”解释时是及物动词，常用搭配：appreciate doing sth，后跟动名词或代词it代指的事情。习惯上只能接“事”作宾语(object)，而不能接“人”作宾语：
正：I'd appreciate some help.
误：I'd appreciate you for some help.
appreciate也指“欣赏”，有“对某事物有一定的兴趣及认识”的含义，如：
In time you'll appreciate the beauty and subtlety of this language.
此外，在商业书信来往中，appreciate一字出现率颇高，但其意和上面提及的“欣赏”音乐有所不同；如：
We greatly appreciate your getting the goods to us at such short notice.
在这句里，“We greatly appreciate...”和“Thank you for...”含意相同。
appreciate的第三个意思是“（对一种情况或问题的）理解”，如
I fully appreciate your concern. We will do all in our power to help.
appreciate的另一用法是指某东西“增值”，是不及物动词，如：
Their investments have appreciated over the years.
大家有没有留意到appreciate解作升值时是不需接宾语(object)的？
grateful
（反）ungrateful; (n.) gratitude (ingratitude)
grateful没有相应的动词，它的常用搭配是be grateful to sb for sth，或者后面跟不定式或that从句，如：
I am extremely grateful to all the teachers for their help.
She seems to think I should be grateful to have a job at all.
He was grateful that she didn't tell his parents about the incident.
另外，grateful也可用于表达请求，这种用法在书信或者其他正式场合用得比较多，如：
I would be grateful if you could send the completed form back as soon as possible.

除了上述的用法区别之外，thank, appreciate和grateful在表达情感上也有略微的区别：
"When you are 'grateful' to someone, you can sometimes feel a little 'beholden' to them. It creates a feeling of 'owingness'." 也就是说grateful带有一点“义务”的性质。
而另一方面，"When we appreciate someone or something there is a feeling of ending. There is a feeling of finality. We do not feel the need to pay this person back." 当我们用appreciate有点意味着这件事的结束，不需要再做什么回报。