权太龙主编的《中国人容易理解错的英语常用词汇》(吉林科学技术出版社 2004年1月第1 版) P41：
17. become, grow
越来越大了。
误句
It becomes bigger and bigger.
正句
It grows bigger and bigger.
【分析】这里要用grow而不是become。grow和become作为系动词时，都作“变得”或“变成”讲，但两者不能通用。become通常总是指由大变小或由多变少，而grow则总是指由小变大或由少增多。
【补充例句】It becomes smaller and smaller.
果真如此吗？
■先请看英国的语料库
在英国的语料库中 become和grow与bigger and bigger和smaller and smaller搭配的真实例证：
▲查BUY-BNC BRTISH NATIONAL CORPUS (UK,1980s-1993) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University ) http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/：
――共有 3个become 与bigger and bigger搭配的例句：
1. Consequently, as the stakes become bigger and bigger in the playing of the game, the scruples will become smaller and smaller when it comes to the back-alley work of player recruitment.
2. He recently drew up an ethics policy for United Biscuits, which he expects all his managers to endorse, because' as a business becomes bigger and bigger --
3. Gradually, the cracks in the limestone became bigger and bigger and water began to flow through them.
――共有 8个become 与 smaller and smaller搭配的例句：
1. …, because as computers become smaller and smaller, then they approach molecular dimensions and gain the realm of molecular reactions is the realm of chemistry, so physics and chemistry there intertwine absolutely inescapably.
2. He saw the figure in the yellow dress become smaller and smaller.
3. Consequently, as the stakes become bigger and bigger in the playing of the game, the scruples will become smaller and smaller when it comes to the back-alley work of player recruitment.
4. With each generation of computer technology, the physical space taken up by the electronic components has become smaller and smaller, …
5. …, it is said to be damped because the fluctuations in real output become smaller and smaller over time.
6. The star goes on becoming smaller and smaller, denser and denser, until its gravitational pull has become so enormous that not even light can escape from it.
7. This process will continue with both consumption and income rising, but with the actual increase becoming smaller and smaller over time until eventually they become insignificant.
8. Cats are not particularly popular there, it seems, and this particular breed became smaller and smaller as an adaptation not only to the hot climates but also to the need to find restricted hiding-places.
从以上可以看出，在英国英语中become 和bigger and bigger搭配的例句与become 与 smaller and smaller搭配的例句之比为3:8。即become 和 smaller and smaller搭配的频率是become 和bigger and bigger的2倍多一点。
▲查BUY-BNC BRTISH NATIONAL CORPUS (UK,1980s-1993) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University ) http://corpus.byu.edu/bnc/：
――共有 3个 grow与bigger and bigger搭配的例句：
1. Katy watched as Grandma wound it slowly round and round and the ball of wool grew bigger and bigger.
2. This plywood structure has grown bigger and bigger, and he has even carved gothic spires on its top.
3. He always looked to her like an infant who had grown bigger and bigger and then stopped growing without changing much.
――共有4 个grow与smaller and smaller搭配的例句：
1. Sometimes, she would stare at them as they were talking and they would grow smaller and smaller, like a genie going back into a lamp.
2. I also used to compare the buzzard to a kite, being allowed to gain height gradually and seeming to grow smaller and smaller until it went out of control and soared off into the distance with the wind.
3. The harvester moved round the field in a strict square, so that the standing crop grew smaller and smaller with every pass.
4. Everyone tended to get poorer as the lots grew smaller and smaller.
从以上可以看出，在英国英语中grow 与bigger and bigger搭配的例句 与grow 与smaller and smaller搭配的例句之比为3:4，即grow与bigger and bigger搭配的频率和grow 与smaller and smaller搭配的频率大致差不多。
■再请看美国的语料库
美国的语料库中become和grow与bigger and bigger和smaller and smaller搭配的真实例证：
▲查The CORPUS OF CONTEMPORAY AMERICAN ENGLISH (1990-2012) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University) http://www.americancorpus.org/：
――共有 12个become 与bigger and bigger搭配的例句：
1. And as technology advances, doctors are able to save even smaller and smaller babies, as the ethical questions become bigger and bigger.
2. But what's happened since the Second World War is there's been a massive consolidation in agriculture and farmers and ranchers have become bigger and bigger and bigger and to some extent that is the economics of the modern age at work.
3. If we don't show them we can play, they become bigger and bigger.
4. when this Web site becomes bigger and bigger and more and more people join it and they're talking …
5. Mr. Mom. Mirtha looks worse and worse as her habit becomes bigger and bigger.
6. As the ball rolls along the snowy ground, it becomes bigger and bigger; …
7. One sign of decadence setting in is when a classical type of mask or statue becomes bigger and bigger,…
8. I think it's more a question of that if you want to call Latin a niche, then that niche is becoming bigger and bigger.
9. If something starts here, and the dangers are becoming bigger and bigger daily, it will be something that has not been seen in
10. Over the years, Shabbat became bigger and bigger…
11. And this led me to understand the linkage between management of the environment and governance, so I entered into the governance issues, human rights issues, equity issues, women issues, and that eventually became bigger and bigger, until after about 10 years, in my hands was a movement and hundreds and thousands of women participating.
12. But as I grew up, it became bigger and bigger, as people came to the city, in search of work and stuff.
――共有 17个become 与smaller and smaller搭配的例句：
1. One by one, our European friends allowed them to be dropped, so that the reform package became smaller and smaller.
2. Multiplied so many times, his reflection became smaller and smaller.
3. As he laughed, his eyes became smaller and smaller.
4. They walk off and become smaller and smaller in sight as if they are walking back to childhood.
5. And I think every year that passes, every new history book that's written, this will become smaller and smaller,…
6. I get scared that it will become smaller and smaller.
7. On the other hand, the standard deviation values graphed on page 65 (and also reported in numerical form on the chart) do, with one exception, become smaller and smaller over time.
8. As computers have become smaller and smaller, they have also become more and more powerful.
9. In this "open universe" omega would become smaller and smaller as the universe grew bigger and bigger.
10. But as circuits have become smaller and smaller, chip makers have needed to develop ways to make lithography more precise, including a method called phase-shifting.
11. That is an approximate notion. As you come closer to a massive object, the distortion of space becomes larger, and as you go further away, it becomes smaller and smaller.
12. AN OLD RUSSIAN SATELLITE Drifting away from us the old Russian satellite becomes smaller and smaller.
13. Pretty much so, because what the Russians do, they never unintelligible becomes smaller and smaller and smaller and now, when they sort of fix the deal, the tanks are in the city.
14. While we still have a skilled manufacturing work force in the United States, the skilled portion of it is becoming smaller and smaller, and there's a greater degree of insecurity in manufacturing than exists before.
15. Even horseshoe-shaped stairs left room for escape, but what can I do now when descending stairs have surrounded me on all sides, when my own space is becoming smaller and smaller?
16.…, A.J., Lev and Bear watch Harry becoming smaller and smaller on the asteroid.
17. He stood up and up and up until he must crash through the wooden overhead, and he was shrinking, becoming smaller and smaller and smaller until an ant might step on him and never notice.
从以上可以看出，在美国英语中become 和bigger and bigger搭配的例句与become 与 smaller and smaller搭配的例句之比为12:17。即become 和 smaller and smaller搭配的频率是become 和bigger and bigger的几乎一样。
■请再看看下面的语料库信息
▲查The CORPUS OF CONTEMPORAY AMERICAN ENGLISH (1990-2012) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University) http://www.americancorpus.org/：
――共有 30个grow 与bigger and bigger搭配的例句：
1. Blizzard flies and the dog's eyes grow bigger and bigger.
2. The problem, they contend, is that the gap between payroll taxes and benefits will grow bigger and bigger over the next 75 years.
3. you shouldn't really rest just because you make profit (UNINTELLIGIBLE) dedicated people to do their job all the time to be able to continue and sustain growth and to be able to make this airline grow bigger and bigger.
4. You know what you always tell me if you don't let it out, it'll just grow bigger and bigger until it consumes you.
5. She picked a knot in the floor and stared at it, letting it grow bigger and bigger in her eyes, hearing every silent sound a little dark spot in the wood makes.
6. Larger planetesimals have enough gravity to hold onto almost any object they collide with and to reign extra stuff in, so they grow bigger and bigger.
7. If this continues, the loophole will grow bigger and bigger with each disaster.
8.
9. The divide between the trained and the untrained will grow bigger and bigger.
10. With his invincible credit card, he vanquishes shopkeepers for her along Rodeo Drive, scooping up every item in sight as Roberts's smiles (and eyes) grow bigger and bigger.
11.… as the poor class grows bigger and bigger, the entitlement grows bigger and bigger, and we have bigger and bigger economic problems.
12. The sac grows bigger and bigger, like a balloon.
13. An argument between two proud and boastful little boys grows bigger and bigger, until it threatens to consume them and everything around them.
14. Combing the walls for any sign of an explanation of what's happening to him, STARKS sees a single white DOT -- almost like a fleck of dust -- flitting between undecided SHAPES in the blackness until, slowly, it grows bigger and bigger...
15. A weird thing happens when I pick up this box. It starts to grow. It grows bigger and bigger, as big as a real cupboard, and I have to set it down on the grass.
16. And then unfortunately, as I went through high school, my jaw started growing bigger and bigger to the point where it was literally twice the size of Jay Leno's jaw.
17. Or Chrysalis was growing bigger and bigger in the viewport, hurtling into us.
18. The gap between them and us is growing bigger and bigger,…
19. I have Tourette's Syndrome makes squealing sound It feels like there's a big balloon inside my stomach and the balloon keeps growing bigger and bigger…
20. Petrillo sees the telecommunications pie growing bigger and bigger…
21. Some analysts worry that even though the number of outlets is growing, viewers find more and more choices controlled by fewer and fewer companies growing bigger and bigger.
22. As in the food industry, the big toy companies are growing bigger and bigger.
23. Our state has been growing bigger and bigger and bigger in government.
24. Toredoes enter unprotected wood and eat their way along the grain, growing bigger and bigger but leaving no outer trace of their presence.
25. I grew bigger and bigger, and eventually, I stopped going to school.
26. It grew bigger and bigger, the cab red, the chrome stabbing me with sunlight.
27. The balloon grew bigger and bigger, a weather balloon pitting post-expectant wind against pregnant air.
28. The kittens grew bigger and bigger and became more like adults.
29. As Zabel's lies grew bigger and bigger, there was no escape.
29. In this "open universe" omega would become smaller and smaller as the universe grew bigger and bigger.
30. As Lent dragged on, the piles of eggs grew bigger and bigger.
――共有40个grow 与smaller and smaller搭配的例句：
1. The hawk grew smaller and smaller, a smudged dot that eventually disappeared.
2. There was something stiff and unyielding in the boy's gait, a defiance so profound that it radiated from his shoulders, his back, as the youth grew smaller and smaller and finally vanished far below.
3. With his mind, first the corners of the blackboard were slowly erased, then the edges, and the edges of edges, creating a circle that grew smaller and smaller, before finally disappearing into itself.
4. She grew smaller and smaller,…
5. I stood there watching as they grew smaller and smaller and finally flowed away in the flood.
6. The old man grew smaller and smaller back there on the train platform.
7. Then he walked along its length as it grew smaller and smaller until he came to the branches that still had leaves out at the ends
8. And when in subsequent years they would speak of the incident, recalling the way the wind buffeted the little plane when Wally Parks, my Dad's friend, took Dad up for a brief flight, I was positive I'd been there, I could recall how excited I was, how excited we all were, Mike, Patrick, Marianne and me, and of course Mom, watching as the Piper Cub rose higher and higher shuddering in the wind, grew smaller and smaller with distance until it was no larger than a sparrow hawk, high above the Valley, looking as if a single strong gust of wind could bring it down.
9. I watched it as it grew smaller and smaller, and finally I lost it among the winter stars.
10. Aunt Tiff, in her devotions, and under the weight of her burdens, grew smaller and smaller, happy finally to disappear altogether in the service of God
11. Nobody saw any more Crips in the streets, and other gangs around the Fifteenth District grew smaller and smaller.
12. And as the bulldozers continued to lay waste the savanna, the area in which he was free to operate grew smaller and smaller.
13. She watches him grow smaller and smaller as she shoots into the sky in the glass elevator that leaves her breathless.
14. She watches the truck grow smaller and smaller until it is just another strange, uncertain memory.
15. He felt himself grow smaller and smaller, …
16.…The signatures grow smaller and smaller as the galaxy races by, and they disappear into the distance.
17. It grows smaller and smaller.
18. The image grows smaller and smaller, and then it is gone.
19. The compadres stare out the back window of the ambulance as
20. The camera lingers on Bracey's body as it grows smaller and smaller, then disappears from view.
21. Joey knew a boy who'd gone up so high you couldn't see him anymore, like a balloon that grows smaller and smaller and vanishes-as if suddenly into blue regions beyond the reach of sight.
22. The space he occupies grows smaller and smaller -- until the only space right for him is his coffin.
23. No - body.... "Flying farther and farther apart, growing smaller and smaller as they did so,…
24. You think they disappear into a diminutive world growing smaller and smaller by the mile?
25.…the hard white light and the pulsing red and blue growing smaller and smaller.
26. His body began to jerk and twitch as he crumpled, folding in on himself, growing smaller and smaller until he vanished entirely.
27.…her arms pulled in tight to her sides and her hands in her lap-Judy growing smaller and smaller in the presence of the reservations girls until the day in mid-October when she simply disappeared, missed her Wednesday shift, and then her Thursday, and the girls never saw her again.
28. In fact, I thought I was shrinking, growing smaller and smaller until I was just a little girl again, a little girl being brought to see her daddy.
29.…the arms lifting at the same time as they approached each other, lowering as they stepped back, the magic of the white cloth growing smaller and smaller between them on the dark grass…
30. The man and the dog walk through the field, growing smaller and smaller as they move toward the woods at the far end.
31. And as the brown Mazda pulls out of the driveway, the taillights turn red, growing smaller and smaller, until they finally disappear.
32. Miranda felt herself shrinking, growing smaller and smaller, until she was just a tiny little girl inside the head of this mean, green girl.
33. I imagined myself standing in my yard, looking up at my carpet growing smaller and smaller until it vanished into blue.
34. INT. HELO - DAY PILOT'S POV: Of the action below, growing smaller and smaller:
35. I was mesmerized by the sight of him growing smaller and smaller in that big, empty, dirty street with no one anywhere, everyone dead or hiding.
36. They are paying attention to constituencies which are growing smaller and smaller.
37. We just heard before the break radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, who was on, of all things, the David Brinkley show on ABC yesterday, being a commentator, talking about the Democrats not having an agenda, saying that, among other things, Democrats are paying attention to constituencies which are growing smaller and smaller.
38. His body seemed frozen there, staring down at Selina, who was growing smaller and smaller, and he knew she was still smiling at him.
39.…Suspended, her mind the intricate net of filament, she saw what the dark had hidden: cubes within cubes of patterned silver, each a completely different weave, growing smaller and smaller but never vanishing.
40. The more television expands into myriad cable channels, the more the major networks seem inclined to draw within themselves, growing smaller and smaller until, like a cartoon snake swallowing its tail, they completely disappear.
从以上可以看出，在美国英语中grow和bigger and bigger搭配的例句和grow 与 smaller and smaller搭配的例句之比为30:40。即grow与bigger and bigger搭配的频率和grow 与smaller and smaller搭配的频率几乎一样。
综上所述，所谓的“become通常总是指由大变小或由多变少”，而grow则总是指由小变大或由少增多”是值得商榷的，即become既可以和smaller and smaller搭配，也可以和bigger and bigger搭配；grow既可以和bigger and bigger搭配，也可以和 smaller and smaller搭配。