n. (名词)

　　疏忽是这次火灾的起因。

　　误 The cause for the fire was carelessness.

　　正 The cause of the fire was carelessness.

　　析 cause指“起因”“原因”与of连用, cause指“理由”与for连用。

　　他的成功缘于勤奋。

　　误 The cause of his success was on account of his hard work.

　　正 The cause of his success was his hard work.

　　正 His success was on account of his hard work.

　　析 the cause of和on account of都表示“原因”,故应该去掉on account of或the cause of,以避免重复。

　　v. (动词)

　　什么原因使她脸这样红?

　　误 What caused her blush like that?

　　正 What caused her to blush like that?

　　析 cause的宾语补足语中的不定式符号to不可省略。

　　那使我快乐。

　　误 That caused me happy.

　　正 That caused me to be happy.

　　析 cause不可接形容词作宾语补足语。

　　这事使我有了反应。

　　误 I was caused to reflect by incident.

　　正 The incident caused me to reflect.

　　析 cause后接动词不定式作宾语补足语时,不可以用在被动结构里。

　　我因病缺席了一星期左右。

　　误 I was absent for a week or so, caused by illness.

　　正 I was absent for a week or so on account of illness.

　　析 cause by不能当作副词使用。