“find fault”是一个贬义动词短语,核心含义是“挑剔;找碴儿;吹毛求疵”,强调故意寻找他人或事物的缺点,而非客观指出合理问题。
“find fault”通常与介词with连用,构成固定结构:
find fault with sb./sth. = 挑剔某人/某物;找某人/某物的碴儿1、 人际关系中(家人、朋友、伴侣间的挑剔):
She always finds fault with my clothes.(她总挑剔我的穿着。)
Stop finding fault with your sister—she’s only 5!(别找你妹妹的碴儿了,她才5岁!)
2、 职场/学习中(上级、老师的过度指责):
My boss is constantly finding fault with my reports.(我的老板总对我的报告吹毛求疵。)
The teacher found fault with every sentence in my essay.(老师挑剔我作文里的每一句话。)
3、 劝阻他人挑剔(表达对“过度苛责”的不满):
Don’t find fault with the restaurant—it’s cheap and tasty!(别挑剔这家餐厅了,又便宜又好吃!)
时态变化:过去式为found fault with,现在进行时常用“is/are finding fault with”(强调“持续挑剔”):
He was finding fault with everything I did yesterday.(他昨天对我做的每一件事都挑刺。)
被动语态(较少用,但存在):
Fault was found with his project proposal.(他的项目提案被挑了毛病。)
“find fault”是贬义,重点在“故意找碴”;若要客观指出错误,应使用:
point out mistakes(指出错误)
identify problems(发现问题)
例如:
客观:The editor pointed out three mistakes in my article.(编辑指出我文章中的三处错误。)
挑剔:The editor found fault with every word in my article.(编辑挑剔我文章里的每一个词。)
“find fault with”是日常口语和书面语中常用的短语,用来描述过度、主观的指责,使用时需注意语境(多含不满或批评)。