|
韓 Sir 資深英語教師
上周在此欄略述了apostrophe (撇號) 的用途，本周再談英語世界內標點符號的用法，這回介紹給大家comma (逗號) 的多種用途。先看看學生寫的句子所犯的 interlingual errors (母語干擾性錯誤)：
1. I like apples、bananas、and oranges.
2. The girl I met yesterday was very pretty, I want to see her again.
3. Chris said : " I like to live in Hong Kong."
4. It's a nice day. Isn't it ?
母語干擾 錯誤"Transfer" (遷移)
第一句應改為： I like apples, bananas and oranges. 本港學生把中文的頓號 (、)用於英文寫作上，是錯誤的遷移 "Transfer"。英語世界是沒有頓號的，應該用 comma (，) 代替。例句如下 (留意句末 "and"之前與後都不需要加上逗號)：
1. The Olympic rings are red, blue, yellow, green and black in colour.
2. Mr. Lee came in, put down his books, stood in front of the classroom and said good morning to us.
第二句應改為： The girl I met yesterday was very pretty. I want to see her again. 犯了這個錯誤的同學也是混淆了英文的 comma和中文的逗號的用途。 寫英文時，一句完整句子後是必須用 full stop (句號) 的，而寫中文卻很多時是用逗號，問題便發生了。再看下列例句：
1. People in Hong Kong are very busy. They seldom have the time for sports.
(香港人很忙碌，很少有時間做運動。)
2. That singer is very popular. The tickets for his concert have all been sold out.
(那歌手很受歡迎，他的演唱會票子都售罄了。)
大家可有留意到每個例子的兩句英文和中文句子中間的標點，寫法有什麼分別？中文用逗號，英文是用句號的。
第三句應改為：Chris said, " I like to live in Hong Kong." 學生在 said後用了冒號 (：) ，又是母語干擾，錯誤 "Transfer" 了！中文的冒號可用於「某人說」或「親愛的媽媽」之後，但是英文的冒號通常用來列表，或寫於某些用語後，用來提起下文各項，例句如下：
1. We have learnt a lot in this lesson : the use of the comma and other punctuation marks.
2. Proceed as follows : read the sentences and find out the errors.
英語世界內 逗號用途多
第四句應改為： It's a nice day, isn't it ? 這是英文逗號的另一種用途：用來把 "question tags" (附加疑問句) 與句中其餘部分隔開。再看下列例句：
1. You understand what I mean, don't you ?
2. He hasn't given up, has he ?
英語世界內，逗號亦有其他用途，如隔開一句複句 (complex sentence) 的主句 (main clause)和從句 (subordinate clause) 。例句如下：
1. My uncle, who is eighty-four, still plays tennis.
2. The Great Buddha, which situates on Lantau Island, is one of the most popular scenic spots in Hong Kong.
|
