美語聽力和發音技巧 第29期

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發布時間：2005-08-19
美語聽力和發音技巧 第29期（regret 的用法）

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on the difference in meaning between “regret to do something” and “regret doing something”.
Let’s take an example. What’s the difference between “I regret to tell you that your father died” and “I regret telling you that your father died”? Well, “I regret to tell”, “I regret to say” are used to inform someone of bad news in a polite way. Before you tell someone bad news, it’s polite to warn the person that he is about to get some bad news by telling him you feel sorry about it. “regret to” must be followed by a verb which means “say”, for example, “tell”, “inform”, “announce”, “report”. Verbs that do not have this meaning cannot be used. On the other hand, “regret doing something” means you wish you had not done something. So, “I regret telling you that your father died” means you wish you have not told someone his father died. Maybe, because after hearing the bad news, he tried to kill himself. Or maybe because it was a mistake and his father had not actually died.
Let’s look at another example. “I regret to inform you that the basketball game has been cancelled.” In this sentence, I’m telling someone some bad news. The bad news is that there will be no basketball game tonight. Here’s another example. “I regret eating so much.” This sentence means that I ate too much in the past, and now, I wish I had not eaten so much.
So, if you have to tell someone bad news, say “I regret to tell you…” But if you wish you had not done something, say “I regret doing it.” And if you are glad that you did something, say “I don’t regret doing it.”
This has been today’s daily tip. Tune in tomorrow for another tip on learning English.

美語聽力和發音技巧 出國留學的第二九期 精品小說推薦： 昔日落魄少年被逐出家族，福禍相依得神秘老者相助，從此人生路上一片青雲！ 我行我瀟灑，彰顯我性格！ 彆罵小爺拽，媳婦多了用車載！ 妹紙一聲好歐巴，轉手就是摸摸大！ “不要嘛！” 完整內容請點擊辣手仙醫

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