seem用作连系动词或不及物动词,意为“似乎、好像、看来”。

“主语+seem+(to be)+表语 ”

此时seem为连系动词,后直接接形容词或to be+形容词或名词(短语)作表语,以说明主语的特征或状态。如:

Tom seems (to be)a very clever boy. 汤姆看上去是一个很聪明的男孩。

Everything seems easy.一切似乎很容易。

注意:afraid,asleep,awake等表语形容词不能直接跟在seem 之后,必须和seem to be 连用,如:They seem awake.(误)应改为:They seem to be awake.

“主语+seem +不定式(或不定式的完成式)”

此句型中的seem 用作不及物动词,不用在进行时态中,其与不定式一起构成复合谓语(不定式作宾语)。如:

a. The moon seems to change its shape. 月亮好像在变换形状。

b. I seem not to be able to make him happy. 我似乎不能使他高兴起来。

c. They seemed to be eating something. 他们好像在吃什么东西。

d. I seem to have caught a cold. 我似乎已经感冒了。

注意:seem 后跟不定式(短语)时,要注意不定式所表示动作发生的时间,以此来确定不定式的时态,如例c、d;seem 后不定式的否定式习惯上在seem 前加don’t ,也可以用seem not to...,如例b也可以说成:I don’t seem to be able to make him happy.

“seem +分词”

a. Our teacher seemed stopped by the question. 我们老师似乎被问题难住了。

b. The news seems exciting. 消息似乎令人兴奋。

注意:seem后用现在分词还是过去分词,取决于分词本身的逻辑主语,如句子的主语是分词的逻辑主语,用现在分词,如例b;反之用过去分词,如例a。

“seem+like+n/v-ing”

like在这里是介词,此句式等于seem to be结构。如:

It seems like years since I saw you last time.自从上次见到你,好像过了几年。

The girl seems like /to be a happy bird.那女孩好似一只快乐的小鸟。

“seem+ 介词短语”

They seem in high spirits .他们似乎境界很高。

seem 常用于it作形式主语的“It seems /seemed that...”结构中

该结构中it作形式主语,“that...”是真正的主语。此结构可以用seem后接不定式来改写。如:

It seems that you were lying. 好像你在说谎。

It seemed that he was ill, so I called in the doctor.

=He seemed (to be) ill, so I called in the doctor. 看来他病了,所以我请了医生。

注意:It seems that... 从句中,that从句可以用陈述语气,也可以用虚拟语气;或者在seem后可以跟一个形容词。如:

It seems impossible that he will be here tomorrow.他明天在这里好像不可能。

seem通常用在“It seems/seemed to sb (that)…”结构中,这种结构用来表示“行为”的主体。如:

It seems to us a good chance. 对我们来说似乎是一个好机会。

It seems to me everything is all right.对我来说似乎一切都不错。

seem也常用于“ There seem(s) to be+名词”结构中,to be可省略, seem的单复数形式要根据后面主语的名词单复数形式而定。如:

a. There seems to be no need to wait longer.似乎没有必要再等待了。

b. There doesn’t seem to be too much hope of our team beating theirs.看来我们战胜他们队没有多大希望了。

注意:

(1)此结构中seem表示 “似乎有;好像有……”,可以和It seems as if...转换。如:

There seem to be a lot of things to do.=It seems as if there are a lot of things to do.

(2)“Thereseem(s) to be +名词”这一结构的否定形式为“There seem(s) to be +no+名词”,如例a; 或“There doesn’t seem to be +名词”,如例b。

seem常用于由as if/though引导的从句中

a. It seems as if it was/were spring already.好像已经是春天了。

b. It seems as though our plan will be perfect.似乎我们的计划很完美。

注意:这种句式中,如果从句所叙述的事情实现的可能性较大或可以被设想为事实,从句的谓语用陈述语气,如例b;若实现的可能性小或根本不可能实现,从句用虚拟语气,如例a。

seem 有时和人称代词I连用,意为“感到好像,觉得似乎”。如:

a. I seem unable to solve it right now. 看来我无法立即解决它。

b. I seem to have seen him somewhere before.我觉得以前在什么地方见过他。