Scoobyqueen Posted November 9, 2010 at 02:21 PM Report Share Posted November 9, 2010 at 02:21 PM I have heard different opinions on the use of 扮演 in the phrase Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarevok Posted November 9, 2010 at 03:22 PM Report Share Posted November 9, 2010 at 03:22 PM I've never actually seen 扮演作用 as a collocation before (but it seems to be possible), so I immediately thought of the second one as a better option... Some Google statistics: "发挥着举足轻重的作用" 1,450,000 hits "扮演着举足轻重的作用" 221,000 hits Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoobyqueen Posted November 9, 2010 at 04:22 PM Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2010 at 04:22 PM Thanks Sarevok. Sometimes though (in English) the less frequent the more eloquent and high brow :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DecafLat Posted December 9, 2010 at 08:31 PM Report Share Posted December 9, 2010 at 08:31 PM I think you can use either and people will understand what you mean; but 扮演着...作用 would be considered a miscollocation in more pedantic circles, because 扮演 literally means "to play (a role)" and is supposed to coupled with 角色 (role). Therefore, to say 扮演着举足轻重的作用 would be tantamount to saying "to play a key effect on...". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny同志 Posted December 10, 2010 at 02:40 AM Report Share Posted December 10, 2010 at 02:40 AM 扮演着举足轻重的作用. I am afraid this is tranlsationese of the English phrase “play a key role in something”. It sounds very awkward to me. 发挥作用 is a common collocation. A variant of the expression“发挥着举足轻重的作用” is “xx的作用（其）作用举足轻重”. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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