1. 表示“剩下”“留下”“尚需”等，均为不及物动词，因此不能跟有宾语，也没有被动语态，并且一般不用于进行时态。如：

地震之后，没剩几座房子。

误：Few houses were remaining after the earthquake.

误：Few houses were remained after the earthquake.

正：Few houses remained after the earthquake.

Today only a few stones remain of the castle. 今天这座城堡只剩下几块石头。(=Today only a few stones of the castle remain.)

2. 由于是不及物动词，所以用于名词前作定语时，不能用过去分词，而应用现在分词(相当于形容词)。如：

The remaining students will serve as audience. 剩下的学生将充作听众。

比较：You may have all those that remain. 剩下所有的都归你。

He drank up the water that remained in the jug. 他把瓶里剩下的水喝完了。

3. 由于是不及物动词，所以类似下面句子中的that从句不是宾语从句，而是修饰其前the fact的同位语从句。如：

The fact remains that she was lying. 事实是，她说的是假话。

类似地，下面一句中的of the castle不是与remain搭配，而是与其前的a few stones搭配：

4. 其后可接不定式，根据意思的需要选用主动或被动。如：

Nobody remained to help him. 没有人留下来帮助他。

Much remains to be done. 要做的事情还很多。

Whether it will do us harm remains to be seen. 是否对我们有害还要看一看。

5. 与 there 连用，构成类似于 there be 之类的句型。如：

There remained in the village only women and children. 村里只剩下妇女和儿童。

There remained just a little food. /There’s just a little food left. 只剩下一点点食品了。

6. 用作连系动词，意为“(继续)保持”“仍处于(某种状态)，其后可接名词、形容词、分词、介词短语等。如：

He remains poor [a poor man]. 他仍然很穷。

She remained sitting [seated]. 她一直坐着。

There she remained under the care of Aunt Liu. 在那里她 一直受到刘大娘的照顾。