3. 在The CORPUS OF CONTEMPORAY AMERICAN ENGLISH (1990-2012) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University) http://www.americancorpus.org/  SEARCH STRING上　　

① 输入 “verb.All +a debt of gratitude to” 共得到包含“owe a debt of gratitude to sb”的例句19例；包含“owes a debt of gratitude to sb”的例句10例；包含“has  a debt of gratitude to sb”例句1例；包含“feel a debt of gratitude to sb”的例句 1例。　　

②输入 “verb.All +a+adj.All+ debt of gratitude to” 共得到包含“owe a great debt of gratitude to sb”的例句5 例；包含“owe a special debt of gratitude to sb”的例句3例；包含“owe a huge debt of gratitude to sb”例句2 例；包含“owe a real debt of gratitude to sb”的例句1例; 包含“owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to sb”的例句1例; 包含“owe a deep debt of gratitude to sb”的例句1例; 包含“owes a great debt of gratitude to sb”的例句2例; 包含“owes a  special debt of gratitude to sb”的例句1例; 包含“owes a huge debt of gratitude to sb”的例句1例; 包含“owes a big  debt of gratitude to sb”的例句1例; 包含“owed a sizable debt of gratitude to sb”的例句1例; 包含“feel a great debt of gratitude to sb”的例句1例.　　

③输入 “verb.All +an+adj.All+ debt of gratitude to” 仅得到以下1例：　　

2004 Partly for this reason, South Africa owes an enormous debt of gratitude to dealers such as Merton Simpson who, as Jay Last points out, always had an umbrella rack in his New York gallery full of southern African staffs and clubs.　　

④输入 “debt of gratitude + verb.ALL” 仅得到以下2句：　　

　1997  A　 special debt of gratitude is owed to Steven Z. Levine, Leslie Clark Professor of the Humanities at Bryn Mawr College, not only for his attentive reading of this paper but also for the guidance, encouragement, and example he has most generously continued to provide since my graduate student days.　　

　2002  A　 more general debt of gratitude is owed to Stephen Melville, who, early on, showed me what it might mean to actually read Greenberg thoughtfully and with care.　　

⑤分别输入 “have/has /had /having a debt of gratitude” 仅得到以下1句：　　

2002 I believe our nation and our city has a debt of gratitude to the people who are out there in the middle of the night and in the day, and working without recognition, who can't stand up here -- indeed, they should not stand up here, but they are out there working as we speak to make this culmination possible. (注：该句属于have a debt of gratitude to sb.而不是for sb.)　　

⑥分别输入 “have/has /had /having  debts of gratitude” 得到的结果都是：Sorry, there are no matching records.　　

⑦分别输入 “have/has /had /having +adj.ALL+ debts of gratitude” 得到的结果都是：Sorry, there are no matching records.　　

综上所述，可以看出无论在英国英语中，还是在美国英语中,a debt of gratitude通常用作动词owe的宾语，其后常接介词to，再接指人的名词作介宾，即owe a debt of gratitude to sb.基本上成了一个固定搭配。　　

当然，a debt of gratitude偶尔也用作其它动词如feel 和acknowledge等的宾语，这点从“张柏然主编《新时代英汉大词典》(商务印书馆 2004年4月第1版)p556:  feel a special debt of gratitude to sb   对某人特别感恩戴德 ” 和“(日) 市川繁治郎主编《英语搭配大辞典》(外语教学与研究出版社2006年10月第1版)p451: acknowledge a special debt of gratitude to sb ”上也可以看得出来， 但是几乎不作动词have的宾语，再者说，此时debt通常用作单数形式，不用复数形式debts。

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