2008年12月9日 星期二

咬文嚼字好頭痛

在稿件中看見以下句子:


They read each other's articles and gave comments.


栗妹的反射動作,就是把 articles s 字刪掉 (因為按上文下理,每人只寫了一篇 article)。不過老板說 s 不能刪,刪了便是錯。


栗妹當然不服氣,於是便去查字典和文法書,可惜舉目所見,不是 each other's eyeseach other's clothes,便是 talk to each other。喂,clothes eyes 平常都要加 s 啦,還用你教?


查書沒結果,便跑去問外籍同事。同事跟老板的說法一致,說 s 要留下,於是栗妹便拿自己的邏輯出來跟他解釋,問他我是哪裡想錯了。同事想了一會兒,委婉地跟栗妹說,有些文句,他們習慣了某種寫法,沒甚麼理由可言的。


又一次證明,跟英文講邏輯,徒令自己頭痛……


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


在《吸血新世紀》(Twilight) 中,看見以下句子:


I feared for him.


考考各位,以上句子跟 I feared of him. 的解釋有甚麼分別?答中冇獎。


10 則留言:

  1. fear of: 害怕
    fear for: 擔心
     
    [版主回覆12/21/2008 20:35:00]勁!答對了!
    (對不起,現在才有時間覆 )

    回覆刪除
  2. 哈!想所有語文都是人們溝通習成,很難以邏輯分析吧。未知 They read each other's articles 的眾數是否以  所read 的 more than one article 而言不是所 write 的 one article 呢?
    乏言愚昧,從此引伸出去,想請教栗子姑娘,那 shake each other's hand ( 還是 each other's hands ) 呢,沒什麼獎可言,小花致意 ,如何?
    [版主回覆12/21/2008 20:38:00]謝乏言先生提點,我會給答中問題的朋友送花。
    如果根據 The Teacher 的解釋,應該是 shake each other's hands了。語言是別人的,他們覺得甚麼是對,栗妹唯有死跟

    回覆刪除
  3.  
    記那夜 .....  杯盤狼藉   
     

    [版主回覆12/21/2008 20:38:00]那香氣 ...... 教栗回味
    謝小月!

    回覆刪除
  4. 原來英文和女仕一樣,係有特權唔講理的。
    [版主回覆12/21/2008 20:39:00]南爾:其實應該是有理可尋的,只是約定俗成、習非成是,讓語言變得複雜了

    回覆刪除
  5. No, you are right, and your boss and your western colleague are wrong.  However, this is a mistake so common among westerners that it has become acceptable.  Anyway, any grammarian worth his salt would agree with you on the "article".  A similar sentence:  "Everybody is worried about their job in this economy."  The use of "their" is wrong, but it's so widely used by ungrammatical westerners that few editors would change it.
     
    Fear for A means fearing something or someone on A's behalf.  Fear of A means you fear A.
    [版主回覆12/21/2008 20:42:00]Dear Teach: Oh these are the loveliest words of the year! (I am right!) Thanks a lot for your explanation!
    And obviously, your answers are correct!  It takes me a while to figure out the difference between the use of 'for' and 'of' ...

    回覆刪除
  6. I feared for him: 為佢擔憂
    I feared of him: 驚左佢
    Right?
    [版主回覆12/21/2008 20:43:00]Teamaster: Bingo!
    我搞咗好耐先至識分呀,點解大家可以咁叻呢?

    回覆刪除
  7. 栗子妹:慧行英文不好,請栗子妹賜教  
    [版主回覆12/21/2008 20:44:00]慧行先生別太謙虛啦!栗妹要向先生求教的地方多著呢!
    答案樓下有。

    回覆刪除
  8. 無蹟英文更水皮, 只好聽栗妹的
    [版主回覆12/21/2008 20:45:00]無蹟:我的英文也是聽 Teacher 的,他說一我不說二

    回覆刪除
  9. The verb fear is never followed by preposition of.  You mixed it up with the noun fear.  Simply say I feared him is OK.
    [版主回覆11/04/2010 05:43:00]Thanks ! I should have checked the dictionary before I wrote the entry.

    回覆刪除
  10. Wow, you're so hard-working, getting up so early!
    [版主回覆11/05/2010 08:21:00]唔知點解, 成晚眼光光
    不過有時早起看書, 感覺都幾唔錯.

    回覆刪除