文法講座四十三："chances are" 和 形容詞 likely 的用法

「(The) chances are (that) 主詞 + 動詞」句型的意思相當於「It's likely that 主詞 + 動詞」，表示某事可能發生，定冠詞 the 和 關係代名詞 that 可省略。「sb + be 動詞 + likely + to 動詞原形」，可表示某人可能 …。若要表達「不可能」，可將句中的 likely 改成 unlikely。 most、quite、very、extremely 等副詞可用來修飾形容詞 likely 和 unlikely。

例句：當你拜訪他們時，他們很可能請你吃鼎泰豐。

(The) chances are (that) they will invite you to Din Tai Fung when you call on them.
It’s likely that they will invite you to Din Tai Fung when you call on them.
They are likely to invite you to Din Tai Fung when you call on them.
They will probably invite you to Din Tai Fung when you call on them.

連接詞 when 遇到未來式 will invite 時，when 後方句中的動詞須改用現在式 call on。

例句：未熄滅的菸蒂可能是這場大火的主因。

(The) chances are (that) an unextinguished cigarette is the cause of the great fire.
It's likely that an unextinguished cigarette is the cause of the great fire.
An unextinguished cigarette is the likely cause of the great fire. [ likely 在此當形容詞 ]
The great fire is probably caused by an unextinguished cigarette. 

例句：Ted 極不可能和 Amy 分手。

It's extremely unlikely that Ted would break up with Amy.
Ted is extremely unlikely to break up with Amy. 

 副詞 extremely 可修飾形容詞 unlikely，也可將 extremely 換成 most、quite、very。