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你所知道的 nothing but … 是不是這樣的：
He had nothing but a cup of tea this morning. 他今天早上只喝了杯茶。
It's nothing but an ordinary watch. 這只是塊普通的表。
當然，你可能也知道這些句子的意思：
I could do nothing but wait.
We can do nothing but wait for the next train.
至於這裡為什麼用動詞原形 wait 而不用別的形式，比如 waiting, to wait, 或 waited，你可能會解釋說，這裡的 wait 是與前面的 do 共用了can/could。這似乎也說得過去。
有網友認為，在下面這個句子中，必須用 watched:
Last night I did nothing but watched TV. 昨晚，我啥也沒做，就看電視。
他們認為，nothing but 後面的動詞形態必須與前面的動詞形態一致。這樣，前面是 did，那麼後面是 watched。這聽起來是挺符合邏輯的。
可是，當我們查閱 NOW CORPUS 語料庫時，我們會發現，有很多很多看起來動詞的形式「不符合邏輯」的句子（我們暫時把這類句子歸類為「第一類用法」）：
…he did nothing but reiterate that. (reiterate: 重申；反覆地做)
There are years of my life when I felt I did nothing but look at my children, …
A man raped a woman in public in broad daylight while bystanders did nothing but film it. （rape: 強暴）
… and he did nothing but come through. （come through: 安然度過）
…only attracted around four dozen parents and kids, who "did nothing but cry."
I stopped doing my rehab and just took a break for two months and did nothing but focus on work. （rehab= rehabilitation 修復）
The fact that he did nothing but play well and be liked by the fans and players at Burnley may say …
… but in these blogs he did nothing but continue this kind of writing, which…
She says the school did nothing but send her daughter home upset and alone in a cab. （cab: 計程車）
the information minister said he did nothing but weaken institutions during his rule in the province. （to weaken institutions: 削弱機構）
Knowing that, he did nothing but sleep and drink milk.
"For 18 months of it I did nothing but fight and try and be the big boy," he says.
The Constitutional Council did nothing but confirm that …
At the table we were at, all adults, they did nothing but talk through the whole thing, …
Baelish supposedly loved Catelyn Stark with all of his heart, and yet he did nothing but betray her family.
From the moment we met, Bruce and I did nothing but laugh our way through a decade of working together …
The passing of time did nothing but strengthen that.
Would McDavid want to sign long-term with a team that did nothing but lose?
He did nothing but deliver for the Braves who moved alongside their rival Red Cubs …
"I did nothing but paint, paint, paint, " she said.
還有很多很多這種類型的用法的句子…
當然，NOW CORPUS 語料庫中也有支持「前後形態一致」說法的句子（我們暫時把這類句子歸類為「第二類用法」）。比如：
He argues AMERI did nothing but contracted another company PPR, to do the work at $350
All our seniors did nothing but sat on fancy sofas and criticised quacks, but we decided to … （quack：庸醫）
Meanwhile, the unfortunate incident quickly attracted some onlookers who did nothing but held out their smartphones to record the tragedy.
可惜，NOW CORPUS 語料庫中這種第二類用法的句子實在是太少太少了。在上面所列舉的第一類用法的句子所覆蓋的幾十行中，只找到這三個屬於第二類用法的句子。
另外，我們也可以看到「第三類用法」的句子。不過這種句子更少。在同樣的語料範圍內，只有一句：
… as railway minister, Mr Praful Patel as airlines minister, both of whom did nothing but damaging and collapsing the national rail and airlines.
也有「第四類用法」，但可惜在同樣的語料範圍內，也只有一句：
however, they did nothing but to fill up their bank accounts abroad.
最後，我們用典型例子小結一下：
We could do nothing but wait.
He did nothing but wait.
當然，這並不等於說必須是這樣！
語言就是這麼一個怪物，完全不按你認為的「符合邏輯」的姿勢走。
其實，語言總是按自己的姿勢，任！性！地！走的。
這就是所謂的「語言是約定俗成的。」
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