TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE

Section 1
agree with  vs  agree to

agree with: be in harmony (with sb.); have or form a similar opinion (as sb.)同意；赞成，（与某人）意见一致

agree to: say 'yes', say that one is willing; consent (to sb.)同意；愿意；答应（某事物）

说明：agree with 指同意；赞成；agree to是“答应，应允”。有时侯，人们可能会“答应”自己并不“赞成”的事情。

例如：They agreed to the proposal under protest.他们不情愿地答应了这个提议。

又如：The workers threatened to strike unless the employers agreed with the terms within twenty-four hours. (不符合逻辑) 因为雇主们是被迫赞成工人们提出的条件。

应为：The workers threatened to strike unless the employers agreed to the terms within twenty-four hours.



Section 2
allowance  vs  permission

allowance: amount of sth. esp money, allowed or given regularly. 津贴，补助
permission: act of allowing sb. to do sth. ;consent 许可；准许；允许

说明：动词allow的意思是“允许”，但是allowance的意思通常是“补助、津贴”。

例如：Without your allowance we won't take a holiday.(错). 应为：Without your permission we won't take a holiday.



Section 3
enough  vs  sufficient

1．作“足够的”讲，两者虽无意境色彩的差异，但仍有区别：前者通常是作具体名词的表语和定语，而后者则既可作具体名词的表语和定语，又可作抽象名词的表语和定语。

例如：Without your allowance we won't take a holiday：In Hong Kong the water supply is not sufficient.(不说 is not enough)
         There's sufficient reason in what you say. (不说 There's enough reason)

比较：In Hong Kong the water is not sufficient/enough.(water是具体名词，所以用作表语，两者可以通用)

2．前者可以作名词和副词使用，而后者则不能。

例如：Enough has been said on this subject. 在这个问题上话已经说得不少了。
         He didn't run fast enough to catch the train. 他没有跑得足够快去赶火车。
         He lived in France for years, but strangely enough he can't speak a word of French. 他在法国居住多年，但奇怪的是，他一句法语也不会讲。




Section 4
enough  vs  sufficiently

这两个副词是同义，都作“足够地”讲，只是两者在句中的词序不全一样：前者总是后置，后者多半前置。

比较：The flat was big enough for his family.  The flat was sufficiently big for his family.
         这套房间足够他家住的。

         The table is not wide enough for our purpose.  The table is not sufficiently wide for our   purpose.
         这张桌子给我们使用不够宽。