昔日文章

Knowing the role of word roots in English through vocabulary formation 通過例子去認識詞根在英文造詞的角色 S : Sophia T: Thomas   T: Hello Sophia! So nice to bump into you here in the canteen. What are you doing here? S: Hi Thomas, I am considering taking up physiotherapy after graduating from DSE, or if I should study philosophy ?   T: Your name should guide you somewhat. In that case, you may consider going for philosophy, rather than physiotherapy. S: Why? What’s philosophy got to do with me?   T: The word philosophy in English is made up of two Greek roots – philo and sophia, which respectively mean love and wisdom. So, combining the two roots you’ll have              philosophia, that is philosophy in English, where the -y is a suffix and indicates a state or a condition, of being in love with wisdom! S: So, what is a root?   T: Roots are the basic part of any English word, and English has got plenty of roots from different languages, but mostly from Latin and Greek.     By the way, you know, getting to know quite a few such roots will take you a long way towards expanding your English vocab.   T: 好Sophia！很高興在食堂碰到你。你在這裡做甚麼？ S: 嗨Thomas，我正在考慮中六畢業之後修讀物理治療，還是哲學﹖   T: 你的名字可以給妳一些指引。在這情況下，您可以考慮選擇哲學，而不是物理治療。 S: 為甚麼？哲學跟我有甚麼關係？   T: 英語中哲學一詞由兩個希臘詞根（Greek roots）組成——philo和Sophia，意思是愛和智慧。所以，結合這兩個詞根，你就會得到 philosophia，即英語中的philosophy，其中-y是一個後綴（suffix），表示一種狀態或條件，即愛上智慧！ S: 甚麼是詞根？   T: 詞根是任何英語單詞的基本部分， 英語有很多來自不同語言的詞根， 但主要來自拉丁語和希臘語。順帶一提，你要知道，多了解這些詞根會對你在擴展英語詞彙方面大有幫助。    

Knowing the principle of using shall and will correctly  認識Will 和 Shall 的使用原則 T: Thomas, F: Freddy   T: Freddy, are you OK? You do look pale! F: No, not really. I think I have a bad cold. I will see the doctor soon.   T: What do you mean by “soon”? The cold will not go away like that, you know? F: I am not too sure about that. Colds shall come and colds shall go, what miracles can doctors perform to change the will of nature.   T: In that case, you are not going to see the doctor, or are you? F: I shall wait for a couple of days more and see what will happen.   T: I see. So you will not go to see the doctor, after all, as you imply only if the cold won’t go away, then you will see the doctor. Is that it? F: You just read my mind, Thomas. I shall then let it be. Thanks so much for caring for me!   T: Take good care of yourself then (giving Freddy’s left shoulder a mild pat).   T: Freddy，你還好嗎？你臉色看起來很蒼白！ F: 不太好。我想我得了重感冒。我很快就會去看醫生。   T: 你說「很快」是甚麼意思？感冒不會這樣消失的，你知道嗎？ F: 我不太確定。感冒話來就來，話走就走，醫生能創造出甚麼奇蹟來改變自然的意向。   T: 言下之意，你不會去看醫生了，是嗎？ F: 我會再等幾天，看看有甚麼事情會發生。   T: 我明白了。所以你不會去看醫生，畢竟，正如你所暗示，假如數天後仍有感冒，你才會去看醫生。是嗎？ F: 你真的明白我的想法，Thomas。我會順其自然的。非常感謝您對我的關心！   T: 你好好保重身體。（Thomas輕拍了一下Freddy的肩膀）  

Basic principle of subject-verb agreement 注意英文文法「主謂一致」（subject-verb agreement）的基本原則   T: Thomas   L: Lawrence   T: Hi Lawrence! Are you OK? You do look troubled. L: See … This sign reads: “No conveyance of goods on passenger lifts are allowed”. I felt there’s something wrong with this sign, and yet I can’t tell where the mistake is made?   T: It’s basically subject-verb agreement. The mistake is caused by mistaking the plural form of part of the subject, and not the basic part of the subject to be the subject. The subject of this sentence is “conveyance of goods on passenger lifts” and it is in the singular, as the word “conveyance” is singular in number. L: This is an area I never get clear about.   T: The mistake is caused by taking the last phrase “passenger lifts” as the determining part of the subject, and as this is in the plural, so the writer puts in a plural verb, for “conveyance”, which is a singular noun. Mistakes like these are made over and over again by students writing sentences beginning with “One of the reasons are that ……”; “One of them/us” have been invited”, and so on. All these are examples of mistakes in subject-verb agreement. L: From now on I will avoid making mistakes in this area.     T: 嗨 Lawrence！你還好嗎？你看起來很困擾。 L: 看……這告示寫著：「不允許在乘客升降機上落貨」。我覺得這告示有些不妥當的地方，不過說不出它錯在哪裡？   T: 這是「主謂不一致」問題。該錯誤是將主語部分的複數形式誤認為是主語，其實它不是主語的基本部分。這句子的主語是在乘客升降機上落貨，在英文文法上屬單數，因為「conveyance」這英文字在數量上是單數。 L: 這是我一直弄不清的地方。   T: 錯誤在於作者誤把最後的詞語「乘客升降機」視為主語的決定性部分，由於這個詞語是複數形式，所以作者用了複數動詞去搭配單數名詞「落貨」。這是學生英文寫作時經常重犯的錯誤， 比如「One of the reasons are that ……」;「One of them╱us」have been invited等等，都是「主謂不一致」的例子。 L: 今後我會盡量避免出現這方面的錯誤了。    

Synonym— let's begin with phrasal verbs 認識同義詞 —— 由英文片語談起 T：Thomas，F：Freddy   T: Hello Freddy, it’s about time to call a meeting with our colleagues next Friday. F: Oh, sorry. I’ve been busy with other things, other more pressing matters. Can we put off the meeting for another week? Or simply call it off?   T: You mean, postpone the meeting, or even cancel it? F: Yes, yes, that’s what I mean. What do you think?   T: Well, we do need to meet. I can’t go along with your suggestion to call it off, cancelling it. We need to meet. F: Well then, would you go for putting it off?   T: OK. Let’s postpone it for a week. That is, we’ll meet Friday week.   T: 哈囉Freddy，差不多時候跟我們的同事在下週五召開會議。 F: 哦，對不起。我一直忙於處理其他更緊迫的事情。我們可以將會議再推遲 （put off）一週嗎﹖或是乾脆取消（call off）？   T: 你的意思是，推遲（postpone） 會議，甚至取消（cancel）會議？ F: 是的，是的，這就是我的意思。你認為怎麼？   T: 我們確實需要開會。我不贊同你取消（call off / cancel）會議的建議。我們是需要開會的。 F: 那麼，你會推遲（put off）會議嗎？   T: 好的。讓我們推遲（postpone） 一週吧。也就是說，我們在週五見面。