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韓Sir 資深英語教師
請看下面句子:
The citizens are more supportive of Candidate A than Candidate B.
大家切勿恐慌，這次並非要跟大家談選舉，而是要和大家分享英語世界內 “parallelism” (平行結構)的寫法。
表面看這句，不作深究，大家可能解作 ： 市民支持候選人甲多於支持候選人乙。但是以英語句子結構的角度，可以有兩種剖析：
其一： The citizens are more supportive of Candidate A than they are of Candidate B.
市民支持候選人甲多於支持候選人乙。
其二： The citizens are more supportive of Candidate A than Candidate B is.
市民較候選人乙支持候選人甲多些。
第二句的意思便和原本想表達的大有出入了！還有點邏輯上之謬誤？
再看下列例子：
The police are more suspicious of the wife than the husband.
可解作一： The police are more suspicious of the wife than (they are of )the husband. (警方懷疑那妻子多於懷疑那丈夫。)
亦可解作二： The police are more suspicious of the wife than the husband (is).(警方較那丈夫懷疑那妻子多些。)
須說明內裡乾坤 否則易起誤會
上列兩句英語句子括弧內的字省略後造成的誤解可大可小，所以大家要留神。這種句式講求平行，故稱Parallelism (平行結構) ，於表達時是必須準確說明內裡乾坤的，否則便容易引起誤會。
下列句子都犯了 “parallel structure” 的毛病，看看您能剖析它們嗎？
1. More women enjoy the show than men.
(較多女士享受那表演？還是享受男人？)
2. We are producing as many pollutants as last year.
(我們製造了同樣多的污染物？還是製造同樣多的「去年」？)
3. Single persons are more likely to be involved in politics than married persons.
(單身人士較傾向牽涉政治？還是較傾向與已婚人士有牽涉？)
澄清誤會 用"parallel structure"
要澄清誤會，還是用較精確的 "parallel structure" 吧！如下：
1. More women enjoy the show than men do.
2. We are producing as many pollutants as we did last year.
3. Single persons are more likely to be involved in politics than married persons are.
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