《美國人易犯的英文法錯誤》-1

《美國人易犯的英文法錯誤》-1

"Embarrassing Grammatical Mistakes Even Smart People Make"

Note: 編按：

美國人的英文，由於疏忽或教育水準不佳，即使聰明人亦常有出錯，久而久之，習以為常，以為錯的就是對的，反正『大家都錯，便是大家都對』。但偶而也有好心人士挺身而出，糾正一下，接不接受隨你，因為通常離開學校後，不太有人願意或膽敢挑出你的錯誤……。

下列為某女士苦口婆心之善言忠告，其實這些錯誤，也發生在其他英語系的民族身上，只是有人知道，有人不知道而已。

When someone uses grammar incorrectly do you make an assumption about his or her intelligence or education? Like it or not, words, spelling, and punctuation are powerful and can leave a lasting impression on others. But even the most educated people often unknowingly make common writing and speaking flubs. Check out this long list of ubiquitous grammar mistakes. Guarantee: You'll either learn something new or find a few of your biggest pet peeves here. (And likely, you'll find fault with my own use of the English language. I welcome your thoughts, critiques, and insults in the comments.)

Christina DesMarais/2017年7月10日

當有人錯誤地使用文法時，你會猜想他的智慧或教育程度？不論你喜不喜歡，字詞、拼音和標點符號，可以對其他人留下持久的印象。但即使是受過最高教育的人，往往不知不覺中，犯下這些常見的寫作和談話的錯誤。看看這一長串的無處不在的語法錯誤。保證： 你會學到一些新的東西或找到一些你最大的怪毛病。（而且可能，你會自我挑剔自己用的英語的毛病。本人歡迎在評論中，表達你的想法，批評甚或辱罵）。

1.     FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVE(誤)

FIRST-COME, FIRST-SERVED(正)- 『先到先接受服務』

說明：通常用在勸解他人，依順序來，不必爭先恐後的用詞上。原句=Those who come first shall be served first. 若SERVE少加D，則意義變成：『先到者，先服務別人』。在商店或銀行等機關內，辦手續時倡導客户 “Take a number”(先取號碼牌)，即為此義。(因serve和served發音幾乎相同，故容易用錯)

It should actually be "served." Without the d, the phrase above suggests that the first individual who arrives will be the one who serves everyone, which is not the idiom's intent.

2.  I COULD CARE LESS(誤)

I COULDN’T CARE LESS(正)- 『我亳不在乎-無所顧慮』

說明：Think about this one for a minute. The way it's written above suggests you possess care which still could be allocated to the situation in question. "I couldn't care less" is correct because it communicates that "I have no more care to give."

用肯定意謂，我少一點顧慮，在其他事上仍可有點顧慮。用否定則表示「豁出去了」。less常與否定詞連用，表示肯定：there are no less than 10 people injured.= There are as many as 10 people injured. 多達10人受傷。但也有不加否定之用法： “Shoes for less”.(亷價鞋子出售)

3.  IRREGARDLESS(誤)

REGARDLESS(僅管)=ANYWAY；WITHOUT REGARD FOR OBJECTIONS

This is not a word. It's simply "regardless," as in "Regardless of what you think about grammar, you'll look silly if you use it incorrectly."

說明：regard  n. 關於，regardless adv. =anyway ; regardless of = in spite of = despite.

Ir-為以r開始的字的相反詞，如irresponsible不負責的；irregular不規則的；irrelevant不相關的；irresolute猶豫不決。但很少加在名詞的字前。上文例句譯文：「儘管你不同意文法，若使用不當，看起來就笨拙」。

**還有，表示「關於」，有人用regarding to, 是錯誤，只可用regarding=concerning=respecting一字，或用in(with)regard to…

4. "I" AS THE LAST WORD IN A SENTENCE.( I主格和受格ME之正確使用)

This mistake is remarkably common, yet a correct example would be "Karlee talked with Brandon and me." The trick to getting this one straight is to take the other person's name out of the sentence and see if your personal pronoun choice still sounds right. "Karlee talked with I" is awkward and incorrect.

說明：人稱代名詞的格必須與前述配合。 “Karlee talked with me” 才是正確，因with(介系詞) 應接受格。他例：It is something between you and me.(此事不足為外人道也。)between (介系詞) 後接受格you, 而and前後的格應一致。另例He and I are close friends. (他和我是知己) 。He和I均須用主格。

5. "ME" AS THE FIRST WORD IN A SENTENCE.

I hear people saying things such as "Me and Brandon met at Starbucks this morning" all the time, even though it's always wrong. "Brandon and I met at Starbucks this morning" is correct.

說明：Me and人,是錯誤的用法，因作主詞用，須用：人and I。表示禮貌，第一人稱須最後提。單數三方面的說法是， “You, he and I are practicing English.” 但中文用「你我他」； 若是複數則用，We, you and they are required to be present by nine. 不過口語英文Me, too.= So do I.= 我也是。是一般可以接受的。另外，口語英文(colloquial English) 常用It’s me…. 是否可以用It’s I……? 請比較下列句子：

It’s me that he is laughing at.  (他正嘲笑的就是我) me作at之受詞

It is I that am laughing at him. (嘲笑他的就是我) I 作am之主詞

另外，

Note: 口語英文，me常代替I, 如It’s me私That’s me是十分普遍亦被接受，但在written English(書面用法), 則須分辨I, 和me。

She loves Betty (貓咪) more than I. (她比我更愛貓) =She loves Betty more than I (do).

She loves Betty more than me. 雖然有時和上句同義，但也可等於She loves Betty more than (she loves)me. 譯為「她愛貓遠勝於我」，則有「人不如寵物」之義，恐非原意。

笑話：英文把『我』-I 視作最大，君不見，Ｉ不論在句首、句中和句尾全須用大寫(capital letter) 。這與漢文相差甚大，稱呼對方為『貴』，如貴友(your friend)、貴國(your country)、貴夫人(your wife) 。稱自己為『鄙人』，日本人仍依唐制，本人自謙仍寫成『僕』。古人謙稱自己為『竊』=thief小偷。我太太(my wife) 叫「內人」，更謙卑的叫「賤內」，台語好聽一點叫「牽手」，難聽一點則叫「柴耙」(rough sticks粗茶，比喻- “vulgar and unpolished woman”-粗俗)。

Justin Lai 編譯

08/02/2017