感恩節口語：thank, appreciate和grateful的不同用法

thank

(adj.) thankful (unthankful); (n.) thankfulness

thank作爲及物動詞，常用搭配是thank sb (for sth / for doing sth)，如：
She said goodbye and thanked us for coming.

thank表示“感謝”，習慣上只接“人”作賓語，而不能接“事”作賓語：
正：Thank you for your help.
誤：Thank your help.

另外的用法：
1. have sb to thank for (doing) sth 歸功於，如：
I have my parents to thank for my success.

2. thank your lucky stars 感謝你的幸運之星，口語中用於表達幸運，尤其是躲過了不愉快或危險的事。如：
Just thank your lucky stars you weren't in the house at the time.

appreciate

(adj.) appreciative (inappreciative); (n.) appreciation

appreciate作爲“感激”解釋時是及物動詞，常用搭配：appreciate doing sth，後跟動名詞或代詞it代指的事情。習慣上只能接“事”作賓語(object)，而不能接“人”作賓語：
正：I'd appreciate some help.
誤：I'd appreciate you for some help.

appreciate也指“欣賞”，有“對某事物有一定的興趣及認識”的含義，如：
In time you'll appreciate the beauty and subtlety of this language.

此外，在商業書信來往中，appreciate一字出現率頗高，但其意和上面提及的“欣賞”音樂有所不同；如：
We greatly appreciate your getting the goods to us at such short notice.
在這句裏，“We greatly appreciate...”和“Thank you for...”含意相同。

appreciate的第三個意思是“（對一種情況或問題的）理解”，如
I fully appreciate your concern. We will do all in our power to help.

appreciate的另一用法是指某東西“增值”，是不及物動詞，如：
Their investments have appreciated over the years.
大家有沒有留意到appreciate解作升值時是不需接賓語(object)的？

grateful

（反）ungrateful; (n.) gratitude (ingratitude)

grateful沒有相應的動詞，它的常用搭配是be grateful to sb for sth，或者後面跟不定式或that從句，如：
I am extremely grateful to all the teachers for their help.
She seems to think I should be grateful to have a job at all.
He was grateful that she didn't tell his parents about the incident.

另外，grateful也可用於表達請求，這種用法在書信或者其他正式場合用得比較多，如：
I would be grateful if you could send the completed form back as soon as possible.

除了上述的用法區別之外，thank, appreciate和grateful在表達情感上也有略微的區別：

"When you are 'grateful' to someone, you can sometimes feel a little 'beholden' to them. It creates a feeling of 'owingness'." 也就是說grateful帶有一點“義務”的性質。

而另一方面，"When we appreciate someone or something there is a feeling of ending. There is a feeling of finality. We do not feel the need to pay this person back." 當我們用appreciate有點意味着這件事的結束，不需要再做什麼回報。

另外，oblige (vt.) 一詞也有“使感激”的意思，如：
I'm much obliged to you. 我非常感謝你。
不過oblige更常見的含義是“迫使”，如：
Parents are obliged by law to send their children to school.