Renzhi Li (李韧之 汕头大学外文系教授)主编 Modality in English and Chinese: a Typological Perspenctive (Antwerp, 2003)之“Acknowledgements“有这样一句话：I have specific debts of gratitude for Dr. Johan van der Auwera for his continuous encouragement, critical comments, and luminous directions.
然而, have specific debts of gratitude for sb. for sth. 却是不符合英美语言习惯的Chinglish, 在英美语中习惯用法是owe a debt of gratitude to sb. for sth.，实际上，已经成了一个idiom，只是有时在debt之前加上一个形容词。
首先，请看收录包含debt of gratitude例句的词典:
1.《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》(第7版)(商务印书馆 ) p515:
debt 3.[C, usually sing. ] the fact that you should feel grateful to sb because they have helped you or been kin d to you. 人情债；情意；恩情 : to owe a debt of gratitude to sb 欠某人的情
2. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary © Oxford University Press, 2010 ( 8th edition光盘版):
debt 3 [ countable , usually singular ] the fact that you should feel grateful to sb because they have helped you or been kind to you
to owe a debt of gratitude to sb
3. Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English (2nd edition © Oxford University Press, 2009)(光盘版):
debt noun 3 sth that you owe sb
phrases
owe a ~ of gratitude to sb
We owe a great ~ of gratitude to our families for their support.
4. Evadne Adrian-Vallance 《朗文高级英语应试辞典》Longman Exams Dictionary (2006年2月 光盘版):
debt noun 4 debt of gratitude / thanks the fact of being grateful to someone who has helped you: I owe a debt of gratitude to my tutors.
5. Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 第5版(光盘版):
debt noun 4 debt of gratitude/thanks the fact of being grateful to someone who has helped you :
I owe a debt of gratitude to my tutors.
6. Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners (CD-ROM 2nd Edition. CD-ROM © Macmillan Publishers Limited 2007):
debt 2[singular]an obligation to be grateful to someone because they have done something for you
owe a debt of gratitude to someone: I owe a debt of gratitude to my father, who has always supported me.
7. Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary (3rd Edition 光盘版) : debt acknowledge/ owe a debt (of gratitude) to sb/sth
8. 刘世同主编《全新多用当代英汉双解大词典》( 学苑出版社 2002年2 月第2版 )p329: I owe him a debt of gratitude for all he has done for me. 我欠他一笔曾帮我的人情债。（注：根据简清国主编《建宏外研社英汉多功能词典》(外语与教学研究出版社1997年1月第1版)P10 60:(因……事，由某人)受到恩惠 [owe+名(人)+名]=[owe+名++to名(人)]可知: I owe him a debt of gratitude for all he has done for me.= I owe a debt of gratitude to him for all he has done for me.下同）
9.（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:
I owe my publishers a special debt of gratitude.
其次，请看包含debt of gratitude例句的英美国家的语料库：
1. 在BUY-BNC BRTISH NATIONAL CORPUS (UK,1980s-1993) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University ) http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/ 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 4例；包含“owed a debt of gratitude to sb”的例句1例；包含“record a debt of gratitude to sb”例句 1 例；包含“felt 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 3例；包含“owe a huge debt of gratitude to sb”的例句1例；包含“owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to sb”例句 1 例；包含“owe a permanent debt of gratitude to sb”的例句1 例。
③输入 “verb.All +an+adj.All+ debt of gratitude to” 得到的结果是：Sorry, there are no matching records.
④输入 “debt of gratitude + verb.ALL”(注：目的主要是查找debt of gratitude用于被动语态中的例句，下同) 仅得到以下1例：
Now, finally, a new order seems to be emerging, for which a big debt of gratitude is owed to Donovan Razor Ruddock and Britain 's Lennox Lewis for daring to have a face off for the chance to get a title shot.
⑤分别输入 “have/has /had /having a debt of gratitude” 得到的结果都是：Sorry, there are no matching records.
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.
2. 在TIME MAGAZINE CORPUS (1923-2006) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University ) (http://corpus.byu.edu/time) 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 2 例；包含“owes a debt of gratitude to sb”的例句 1例；包含“pay a debt of gratitude to sb”例句 1 例。
②输入 “verb.All +a+adj.All+ debt of gratitude to” 共得到包含“owe a limited debt of gratitude to sb”的例句 1例；包含“owe a historic debt of gratitude to sb”的例句 1例。
③输入 “verb.All +an+adj.All+ debt of gratitude to” 得到的结果是：Sorry, there are no matching records.
④输入 “debt of gratitude + verb.ALL” 仅得到以下1例：
Thus the U.S. paid a debt of gratitude dating from Dec. 7.(注：此句与本论题无关。)
⑤分别输入 “have/has /had /having a debt of gratitude” 得到的结果都是：Sorry, there are no matching records.
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.
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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