2018年11月28日 星期三

Yet 怎麼用?

一般學校教 yet 這個詞的用法,可能只限於用在否定句和疑問句,表示「還(未)」,例如:

We haven’t received the parcel yet.(我們還沒有收到包裹。)
Have you found a place to live yet?(你找到地方住了嗎?)

其實 yet 還有一種用法,通常以 yet to 出現,而且用於肯定句中,例如:

The truth has yet to be proved.

上句雖然是肯定句,但 yet 的含義還是 negative,表示「還未」,所以上句意思是「真相還未得到證實」,英文名言 The best is yet to come 正由此義而來。再舉多兩例:

The government has yet to respond to the incident.(政府還未回應事件。)
She has yet to decide whether to sign the contract or not.(她仍未決定是否簽約。)

此外,不少人也知道 yet 可以作為連接詞,意思相當於 but,例如:

The idea sounds great, yet we don’t have enough funds.(這個主意非常好,可是我們沒有足夠的資金。)

不過,yet 除了可連接兩個子句,也可以連接兩個詞,而且通常是形容詞,例如:

Her design is simple yet creative.(她的設計簡單得來有創意。)
He is always thinking of some ambitious yet impractical plans.(他老是在想一些宏偉卻不切實際的計劃。)

2018年11月2日 星期五

「同位語」的用法

平時寫英文,如果有兩個或以的句子,很多人都會用 relative clause 連接,但有些情況其實是不必的,用多了反而像濫用,使句子不夠簡潔。例如:

Jonathan, who is their youngest child, is such a talented boy.
The scenery of Copenhagen, which is the capital of Denmark, will leave you breathless.

以上兩句雖然正確,但讀起來有點累贅。其實當 relative clause 帶出來的補充資料是一個 noun phrase,英文是容許把 wh-word 省略,例如:

Jonathan, their youngest child, is such a talented boy.
The scenery of Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, will leave you breathless.

這種由兩個 nouns noun phrases 並排組成的句子,文法上稱為 apposition(同位語),在英文裡是十分常見的,再舉幾個例子:

Kung Pao chicken, a traditional Chinese dish, is very popular all over the world.
Barack Obama, the first black President of the US, spent two terms in office.
They couldn't believe when the little boy stood up to Scott, the biggest bully in school.