注：I’m afraid也可以作插入語，放在后面。例如：
I can't help you, I'm afraid. 我?guī)筒涣四愕拿? 對不起。
(2) I’m afraid so.(=yes) 恐怕是的。例如：
“Have we missed the train?” “I'm afraid so. (=I'm afraid we’ve missed the train.)” “我們誤了火車了嗎?”“恐怕是誤了�！�
(3) I’m afraid not.(=no) 恐怕不是的。例如：
“Was she impressed with our work?” “I'm afraid not. (=I'm afraid she was impressed with our work)” “我們的工作能給她留下印象嗎?”“恐怕不能�！�
B. 作賓語補(bǔ)足語
It made you afraid to step out of your house. 這使你不敢走出你的家院。
C. 作狀語
Afraid of being cut off, they lost no time in turning back. 為怕給敵人切斷，他們急忙撤了回來。
二、afraid的搭配
1. be [feel, look, seem, sound, become, grow] afraid。例如：
She whispered (to me) that she felt very afraid. 她小聲(對我)說她覺得很害怕。
2. make sb afraid。例如：
What has made you so deeply afraid of your boss?
3. a little(Am.E) [a bit(Am.E), a little bit(Am.E), almost, awfully, deadly(Am.E), deathly(Am.E), deeply, desperately, extremely, genuinely, half, just, mortally, much, physically, rather, really, secretly, slightly, simply, suddenly, terribly, truly, very, very much] afraid。例如：
She was tense, almost afraid to open the letter. 她很緊張，幾乎不敢打開信。
He was half afraid to look at her. 他有點不敢看她。
You do know, don't you? You are just afraid to tell me. 你確實知道，不是嗎? 你只是不敢告訴我。
■ 注：有的語法專著認(rèn)為very不能修飾afraid;只有 much 或very much才可修飾afraid。例如：Michael Swan著Practical English Usage (International Student’s Edition Eighth impression 2002)p28:
We often use very much instead of very before afraid, especially when I’m afraid means ‘I’m sorry to tell you’. 在afraid前面，經(jīng)常用very much，而不單用very。如果I’m afraid 用來表示I’m sorry to tell you，尤其如此。
但實際上，現(xiàn)在英美語中都能用very 修飾afraid。
(1) 在BNC(英國國家語料庫http: / / www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk)
和BUY-BNC BRTISH NATIONAL CORPUS (UK,1980s-1993) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University ) http: / / corpus.byu.edu / bnc / 上共有26 例 very afraid
(2)在BYU: THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY
(http: / / corpus.byu / oed / )上共有1例very afraid
(3) 在BUY CORPUS OF AMERICAN ENGLISH (1990-2008) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University)
(4) 在TIME CORPUS OF AMERICAN ENGLISH (1923-2006) (Mark Davies, Brigham Young University ) (http: / / corpus.byu.edu / time)上共有12例very afraid
4. afraid for...。例如：
He is afraid for his own safety. 他擔(dān)心自己的安全。
5. afraid of。例如：
Charlie is afraid of marriage. 查理害怕結(jié)婚。
6. afraid about。例如：
He is afraid about what will happen.他擔(dān)心將來發(fā)生的事。
7. nothing to be afraid of 沒什么可害怕的。例如：
Go ahead! There's nothing to be afraid of. 干吧!沒有什么可怕的。
8. be afraid of one's own shadow(= be very timid) 很膽小; 非常膽怯。例如：
He had noticed that the horse was afraid of his own shadow. 他已經(jīng)注意到這匹馬很膽小。
三、afraid的同義詞語辨析
1. be afraid of doing sth. 和be afraid to do sth.
(1) Michael Swan著Practical English Usage (Third Editiion)p277：To talk about fear things that happen accidentally, we prefer afraid of +-ing.(表示害怕會偶然發(fā)生什么事，一般用afraid of +-ing。)
I don’t like to drive fast because I’m afraid of crashing. 我不愛開快車，因為怕撞車。
In other cases we can use afraid of +-ing or afraid +infinitive with no differenceof meaning.(其他情況下，既可以afraid of +-ing，也可以用afraid +動詞不定式，意思并無不同。)
I’m not afraid of telling / to tell her the truth. 我不怕把真實情況告訴他。
(2) 【日】田中茂范等編《外研社英漢多功能詞典》(楊文江等編譯 外語教學(xué)與研究出版社 2008年7月第1版)p39：表示不受害怕主語意志控制的不測事態(tài)時，用of doing，其他情況用 to do和 of doing均可。但是表示“害怕某結(jié)果而不敢做……“時主要用to do。
(3) 葛傳槼編著《英語慣用法詞典》(新修訂本)(時代出版社 1958年9月初版)p29-30：
“afraid” 后面接infinitive作“怕……”或“不敢……”解;“afraid”后接“of”和 gerund通常做“恐怕將……”解，但也往往作“怕……”或“不敢……”解。如“afraid to die”是“怕死”或“不敢死”;“afraid of dying”通常是“恐怕將死”，但也往往作“怕死”或“不敢死”。
“afraid to see him”是“怕見他”或“不敢見他”; “afraid of seeing him”通常是“(不要見他而)恐怕不免見他”，但也往往作“怕見他”或“不敢見他”解。假定你很怕傷風(fēng)，該說“afraid to catch cold” 或“afraid of catching cold”;假定你衣服穿的少，恐怕要傷風(fēng)，該說“afraid of catching cold”。
(4) A. J. Thomson and A. V. Martinet著A PracticalEnglish Grammar (第四版) (外語教學(xué)與研究出版社 1991年2月第1版)p238：
be afraid of + gerund
Here the gerund usually expresses an aqction which the subject fears may happen. It is normally an involuntary action(這里動名詞常常表示主語擔(dān)心發(fā)生的事情。這些常常是無意讓發(fā)生的事情)：
She avoids lonely streets. She is afraid of being mugged. 她避免在沒人的馬路行走。她怕遭搶劫。
be afraid +infinitive means that the subject is / was etc. too frightened to perform the action. This is obviously a deliberate action(被afraid+不定式表示主語非常害怕，以至不敢采取某一行動。這些通常是有意讓發(fā)生的動作)：
He was afraid to jump. 他不敢跳。(他沒跳。)
(5) 陸谷孫主編《英漢大詞典》(第2版) (上海譯文出版社2007年3月第1版)p33：
(afraid) 后接“of+動名詞”結(jié)構(gòu)一般只表示“怕做某事”的意思;如后動詞接不定式則側(cè)重表示“因為擔(dān)心后果嚴(yán)重而不敢也不愿做某事”。如He is not afraid of dying.和 He is afraid to die.兩句，雖都可譯作“他不怕死�！钡罢咧皇钦f出一個事實，后者則包含諸如“他心甘情愿地去赴死”之類更近一層的意思;又如She was afraid of waking her husband. 和She was afraid to wake her husband.兩句，雖都可譯作“她生怕把丈夫弄醒了”，后一句又包含“考慮到可能招惹丈夫發(fā)怒的后果而不敢弄醒”之類的意思。
2. afraid, frightened, fear
(1) afraid是普通用語，概念廣泛。多用于習(xí)慣，經(jīng)常 的“懼怕”某些事物，或泛指一種“恐懼心理”; frightened 常指一種突然的而且通常是暫時的懼怕，也可表示持續(xù)的恐懼與擔(dān)憂;fear作動詞，但不如前兩者常用，常暗示由于懼怕而不敢做某事，或讓恐懼影響自己的思想或行動。例如：
I’m afraid to say what I think. 我不怕說出自己的想法。(意即：無顧慮)
At the sight of the tiger, the little girl was too frightened to escape. 看見老虎，那個小女孩兒嚇得都不敢逃走了。(突然的、暫時的懼怕)
She’s always frightened when she’s alone in the house. 她一個人在家時，總是很害怕。
Fearing he might be recognikzed, he decided to adop a diguise. 他因為怕被人出來，決意化妝。(由于懼怕而不以本來面目出現(xiàn))
(2)在口語中 be afraid 和 fear 也可表示“恐怕”或“懷疑”。例如：
I’m afraid it will be too late if we hesitate any longer. 如果我們再猶豫不決，恐怕會太晚了。