RIGHT: music education is A MEANS TO improved cognition
WRONG: music education is A MEANS OF improved cognition music education is A means for improved cognition --------------------------------------------------------------------------
其实我对这个说法有点confuse, 因为means of transportation是我们经常的用法, 所以麻烦牛牛们帮忙解答一下为什么wrong里面的of用法不对, 谢谢拉
means to A: 指的是通向目标A的方式 means of A: 指的是A这种方式 一个强调目标,一个强调方式
-- by 会员 ruoqingwu (2008/2/9 3:27:00)
-- by 会员 v19suffered (2011/1/11 15:21:33)
Exactly. Here is a more vivid explanation from GMAT expert.
'Means' is used in two idiomatically correct expressions as noted below. These expressions however have different meanings:
x {as a means of} y = x is a type of y x {as a means to} y = x is a method to achieve y
For example: Walking is a means of exercise. Some people use walking as a means to stay fit.
We will now put this in the context of the sentence in question:
City is stressing arts as a means to greater economic development The usage of expression as a means to is appropriate here since "arts" is a method to achieve "greater economic development.
Thus, whenever you have to make the decision between using "as a means to" or "as a means of" always check which of the two meanings will make sense: "a type of" or "a method to achieve"
as a means to和as a means of都存在,查了半天没找到两者的明显区别,但看了些例子,发现as a means of后加名词形式的比较多,比如as a means of transportaion, as a means of protection,而 as a means to后加短语的比较多, 比如 as a means to an end, as a means to build wealth...
hope this helps -- by 会员 lpilikeit (2010/10/7 11:51:49)