I said in the last post that when “to” acts as a preposition it is usually followed by an –ing form or a noun/noun phrase.
上一次我们说到，当“to”用作介词时，后面经常会跟着动词-ing形式或者名词/名词性词组。
Now we will look at exceptions to this rule.
现在，我们来看看这个规则有哪些例外的情况。
The most important exception relates to the verb “agree”. You may use an infinitive verb after “agree to”. For example:
这其中最重要的一项是关于动词“agree”的。“agree to”后面要跟动词不定式。
- I cannot agree to delete Section 3.7.
我不同意删去第3.7节。 - This provision may cause unnecessary difficulties especially in complex matters where the parties do not agree to extend the prescribed time period.
这项规定可能会造成不必要的麻烦，尤其是当双方不同意延长规定期限的复杂情况下。
If you try to use –ing forms in these examples in a document written on Microsoft Word, you’ll find that “deleting” and “extending” are underlined in green. This is because Word’s grammar check knows about this exception.
当你在Word里打字时，要是在以上这些例子后面加上了动词的-ing形式，你会发现你打的“deleting”和“extending”下面有绿色的波浪号出现。这是因为Word的语法检查能查出这些。
“Agree” is not the only verb covered by this exception. Others are “consent”, “entitled” “inclined” and “prone”.
“agree”不是唯一的例外。还有“consent”“entitled”“inclined”和“prone”。
Here are some examples:
这里举出了一些例子：
- The duchess has consented to open her London house to the public for two months every summer.
公爵夫人已经同意每年夏天开放其住所供群众参观。 - The Company is entitled to request that the authority reassesses the circumstances of the case.
本公司有权要求当局重新评估案件的情况。 - I am inclined to agree with you.
我倾向于你的观点。 - The Employee is prone to suffer from asthma attacks and cannot work in a dusty environment.
这个职员很容易哮喘病发作，所以他不能在尘土飞扬的环境里工作。
More on “agree to”
“agree to”的更多说明
However, there is a difference in meaning between “agree to + -ing” and “agree to + infinitive”. Let’s make a comparison:
但是“agree to + -ing” 和“agree to + 不定式”在意思上还是有区别的。让我们来比较一下这个例子：
- I cannot agree to delete Section 3.7.
- I cannot agree to deleting Section 3.7.
The first one means I am not going to delete Section 3.7 myself; whereas the second sentence means I don’t want Section 3.7 to be deleted by anybody.
第一句句子意思是我不会自己去删掉3.7节，但第二句句子表达的是我不希望任何人删掉3.7节。
If you find it difficult to see the difference in meaning, try replacing the -ing form with a noun phrase:
如果你觉得要看出其中的差异有点难，那你可以试着用一个名词性词组来代替动词-ing形式：
- I cannot agree to the deletion of Section 3.7. (Deletion by anyone)
我不同意删掉第3.7节。（任何人去删除，我都不会同意的）
