Hear that 和 see that 經常被用來引導新的訊息或資訊,此時 hear 意為「聽說,得知」,而 see 意為「知道;明白;瞭解」。在這項用法中,hear 和 see 通常使用現在簡單式,而 that 有時會省略。例如:
- I hear (that) Teresa has a thing for Benjamin. (我聽說泰瑞莎喜歡班傑明)
- I hear Mary’s getting married in August. (我聽說瑪麗八月要結婚)
- I see (that) John is going to move to Taipei next month. (我知道約翰下個月將搬到台北)
- I see Professor Chen remarried. (我知道陳教授再婚了)
Gather (瞭解,認為;推測,猜想)、learn (得知,獲悉,聽說) 和 understand (明白,瞭解,聽說) 等動詞亦有相似的用法。例如:
- I gather that he is the one in charge. (我猜想他是負責的人)
- Peter loves his new job, I gather. (我認為彼得喜歡他的新工作)
- I told them the secret yesterday and they understand the prime minister will reshuffle his cabinet soon. (昨天我告訴他們這個秘密,他們都知道總理很快就會改組內閣)
- I understand you wish to see the president. (聽說您想見總統)
- I learned from his email that he went on a business trip to Japan. (我從他的電子郵件中得知他到日本出差)
- I later learned (that) you had never lent him any money. (我後來聽說你都沒有借錢給他)
綜上所述,在「聽說;知道」的意思上,我們可以將 hear, see, gather, learn 和 understand 等動詞歸納為用法相似的一類,其句型為「動詞 + (that) 子句」,而動詞在句中通常使用現在簡單式。