Fashion never ceases to surprise me.

=Fashion never ceases surprising me.

=Fashion never stops surprising me.

流行服飾總是不斷地令我驚奇。

及物動詞cease(停止) 後可接不定詞片語 (to + 原形動詞) 或動名詞作受詞, 兩者意思相同, 均表『停止做……』、『不做……』之意, 即等於stop接動名詞的用法。

cease to + 原形動詞　　停止做……, 不做……

　=cease + 動名詞

　=stop + 動名詞

例: If I cease to work, my family will starve.

　= If I cease working, my family will starve.

　= If I stop working, my family will starve.

　(我若不工作的話，家人就要挨餓了。)

注意:　

stop後除可接動名詞作受詞, 表『停止做……』的意思外, 亦可接不定詞片語作受詞, 但意思不同於前, 而是表『停下某事, 而改做另一件事』的意思。

stop + 動名詞　　停止做……

stop to + 原形動詞　　停下某事去做……

例: Mr. Chen stopped working as a fireman when he was sixty years old.

　(陳先生六十歲時就不再當救火員了。)

　I stopped to buy some groceries on my way home.

　(我在回家的路上停下來買了些雜貨。)

Conservative as it may be, it keeps me out of trouble.His idea comes straight from the garbage dump, so to speak.

他的這個點子可以說是直接來自垃圾堆。

上列句中使用了so to speak (可以這麼說) 置於句尾的用法, 但so to speak亦常作插入語使用, 尤其置於句中be動詞之後。

so to speak　　可以這麼說

例: Ted's so stupid that he can't tell the difference between black and white, so to speak.

　(泰德可以說是笨到分不清黑與白。)

　The brilliant doctor is, so to speak, a magician.

　(那位才氣縱橫的醫師可說是個魔術師。)

They sell at prices ranging from US$100 to US$150.

=They sell at prices which range from US$100 to US$150.

它們的售價在一百到一百五十塊美金之間。

上列句中的"ranging from US$100 to US$150"是現在分詞片語, 作形容詞用, 修飾其前的名詞prices, 乃由形容詞子句which range from US$100 to US$150化簡而來。

range from...to...　　(範圍) 從……到……

例: The ages of the students in my class range from eight to twelve.

　(我班上學生的年齡從八歲到十二歲都有。)