星期二, 4月 12, 2011

常見英文錯誤

30/3/2005 馮強
【明報】有個網站把香港人常犯的英文錯誤列出來,我嘗試提供一些加強記憶的方法,幫助大家減少犯這些毛病。

The poor is always with us(錯)。
The poor are always with us(對)。
只要記著the poor是講the poor people。The poor people當然是眾數了,眾數要用are。

The students are from various nationalities(錯)。
The students are of various nationalities(對)。
我們用from different countries(來自不同國家)而of various nationalities(屬於不同民族)。

Won't you let my brother and I help you?(錯)
Won't you let my brother and me help you?(對)
很簡單,這句句子的主詞是you,所以副詞只可以是me,不可能是I。

I wish my memory was half as good as hers!(錯)
I wish my memory were half as good as hers!(對)
很容易記的,當事情沒有可能發生的時候,我們要用were。例如,I wish Princess Diana were still alive。I wish I were Donald Tsang。

網站(擂台網)舉出的其他例子似乎都是英文水平的問題。只要有一定的水平,都不用擔心這些問題。Look something up是找出的意思而see to it是留意的意思。Careless是不小心而carefree是無拘無束、自由自在的意思。

Corner(角落)是一個範圍,當然要用in the left-hand corner了,而on是在什麼之上的意思,例如on the table(檯上)。

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