10本推介的英文學習讀物3：古德明之《好壞英語2》

古德明呢本書好過第一本好多了, 比較多真係問題嘅問題.

1. Attention若寫係信封,除了跟colon外,也可跟of, 如:

Attention of Ms Julia Wan

2. And和So究竟可否作句子開頭？其實係可以，只係較informal.

3. Hong Kong's Education system和The Hong Kong education system也可以，只係前者的Hong Kong是名詞，後者的Hong Kong是形容詞。

4. 究竟vegetable係數到定唔數到呢?古德明話,菜本身可能都係count,但若煮咗嚟食,就變成uncount. 例如: I ate some tomato vs I bought some tomatoes. 

5. 究竟any之後係用單數定眾數?其實兩種都得,例如Do you have any brothers or sisters係啱,但Do you have any hushands就唔得了, 因為husband唔expect有兩個.

6. 0.5英文除了叫zero point 5, 也可用nought point five.

7. I have a red, yellow, and blue bag句中最後一個comma究竟要唔要?原來,有或無都得. 如果有, 意思可能係我有三個袋, 三個袋顏色唔同,也可指我有一個有三種顏色的袋.但如果無,就有機會令人以為我只得2個袋,其中一個係兩隻色:黃加藍. 

8. Comma splice我一直都覺得係錯,但古德明話其實以前呢種句子好普遍,無依家咁嚴格,以前未必當錯.

9. around the world與from around the world之間有咩唔同?around the world係「全世界」, from around the world係「來自世界各地」.

10. 呢點我知的,不過要再寫一次. 以下三句都係啱的:The elephant is a noble animal/ An elephant is a noble animal/ Elephants are noble animals. 

11. a total of 是總共, 也可以用totally. 但totally有完全的意思,a total of則無.

12. 其實副詞作形容詞我在另外一篇blog也講過,例如the school here中的Here是形容詞(或叫定語), 因此forever friend中的forever也是定語.

13. somebody,anybody,everyone跟somone, anyone, everyone的分別在於, 用-one係formal少少.

14. So do I與So am I的分別,只是前者係表示同樣動詞,或者是同樣名詞/形容詞.

15. Careful和cautious的分別是,careful是小心做事,避免錯誤;cautious係小心考慮, 著意提防.

16. possibly和probably分別在於, 前者的語氣較弱, probably是較有事實根據的推測.

17. although和though有三點分別: 1. though可以是even though; 2. though可擺係句子最後,意思是however. 3. though解「雖然」時的語氣較隨便.

18. scant解「少量的/不足的/貧乏的」,與scanty一樣.

19. no後面也是可plural可singular,但與any一樣,如果個名詞通常係plural或singular,就必是singular/plural其中一種.例如: I have no sister. 

20. exercise解運動個陣,可plural可singular, 視乎情況. 若指廣義解運動,的確是用uncount,即singular: e.g. You should do more exercise. 但其實用眾數也不是錯, 因為exercises可指多種運動,或某種運動重重覆覆咁做. 

21. as well as後面可以跟gerund或to-infinitive,視乎之前的動詞.如:He spent all his money as well as wasting his time. vs He was unwilling to spend all his money as well as waste his time.

22.敍述故事情節一般用present tense,但若說情節中早前的事,則用past tense.

23. from outside跟outside不同. 前者係「來自外面」,後者是「在外面」.

24. take for有「視為」的意思,如He takes her for a slave是「他把她視為工人」.

25. there和in there不同.前者是「在那裡」,後者是「在那個地方的裡面」. 

26. essential to解作「對...是必要的」,後面跟gerund, 如Water is essential to maintaining life. 

27. Be it的意思是whether it is,例如: I like all kinds of films, be it action, adventure, love, or horror films.