昔日文章

Using " in case of "correctly 認識 In case of 的涵義和用法 T：Thomas     M：Matthew   T: Hello Matthew! Haven’t been seeing you for quite some time. What are you up to these days? M: Sorry to cool down your cheerfulness. I have been unwell. My doctor told me to call the ambulance, just in case I feel severe pain in my heart.   T: You must take extra care of yourself. Yes, in case of emergency one must do that, or get someone close by to do that at once. M: Thanks for your concern. Certainly. If in case of emergency, I will do that.   T: Exactly. But Matthew, what you just said, if in case of emergency, that’s not correct in English. M: Really? (embarrassingly)   T: To be correct, either we can say, or write, “in case of emergency” OR “if there is an emergency”. “In case of” is a prepositional phrase, used to describe what should be done if something happens. So, adding an “if” to “in case of” is superfluous, and sounds wrong. Do you agree? M: Yes. You’re right. We do need to be careful about even minor things in English. Sorry, I’ve got to go now.   T: Take good care of yourself and get well soon!   T: Matthew您好！好久沒見了。你近來在忙甚麼？ M: 恕我掃興地告訴你，我一直感到不舒服。醫生叮囑我，萬一當我感到心胶痛，要叫救護車。   T: 你要多多保重。對，在緊急情況下必須這樣做，或找鄰近的人馬上幫忙。 M: 多謝關心。 如果萬一在緊急情況下，我會這樣做。   T: 正是。不過，Matthew，你剛才說「If in case of emergency」，在英文的文法裡是不正確的。 M: 真的嗎？（一臉尷尬）   T: 當說話或寫作時，不論用「in case of emergency」或者「if there is an emergency」，都是正確的。In case of 是介係詞片語 (prepositional phrase)，用來描述「假若當事情發生時我們該做些甚麼」。所以，在in case of 前再加上具有「如果、假若」意思的 「if」，則有點多餘及意思重疊。你同意嗎？ M: 是的，你說得對。在英語運用上，即使細微事情也需要小心。不好意思，我現在要走了。   T: 保重身體，祝你早日康復！