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葉劉淑儀 立法會議員
大家都知道，若要表示因果關係，可用because、because of、due to、so和therefore等。然而，不少人未能正確使用這些字詞，所以我打算談談幾個較常見的錯誤。
Because和so不能一併使用
中文有「因為……所以……」的句式；但英語中的because和so卻不能在同一句子中使用。我們若要表達「因為天氣冷，所以我們留在家裡。」的意思，千萬不能夠說"Because the weather was cold, so we stayed home."，而應該說"Because the weather was cold, we stayed home."或"The weather was cold so we stayed home."。
意思一樣 作用不同
Because、because of和due to都解作「因為」，可是在英文語法中有不同的作用。Because是連接詞，用以連接兩個完整句子。例如：
We went swimming because the weather was hot.
因為天氣炎熱，所以我們去游泳。
Because of和due to的作用則像前置詞，用於名詞之前。如：
We went swimming because of / due to the hot weather.
Because of和due to後面不應使用完整句子，除非把because of改為because，把due to改為due to the fact that。例如：
We went swimming due to the fact that the weather was hot.
Therefore是副詞 不能連接句子
Therefore和consequently均可譯作「所以」，但用法和so有分別。我們可以說："Sam did not study, so he failed the test."(森姆沒有用功學習，所以測驗不合格。)，但"Sam did not study, therefore he failed the test."卻是錯誤的說法。So是連接詞，能夠把兩個句子連在一起，故兩句之間以逗號分隔；therefore和consequently則是副詞，不能用以連接句子，故前後兩句須用句號分隔。即是：
Sam did not study. Therefore/Consequently, he failed the test.
Therefore最常見於句首，然而也可置於句子的其他位置。例如：
Sam did not study. He, therefore, failed the test.
Sam did not study. He failed the test, therefore.
So that有別於so......that
我們也可用so......that和such......that表示因果關係。基本句式包括：
......so+形容詞/副詞+that......
......such+形容詞+名詞+that......
......so+many/few/much/little+名詞+that......
例如：
The weather was so nice that we went hiking.
天氣那麼好，所以我們遠足去。
She spoke so fast that we could not understand her.
她說話那麼快，我們實在聽不明白。
It is such an expensive flat that we cannot afford to buy it.
這房子貴得我們沒能力購買。
He made so many mistakes that his project failed.
他犯了這麼多錯誤，致使項目失敗。
So that卻有別於so, so......that和such......that。So that並非表示因果，而是表示目的，例如"I turned off the television so that I could concentrate on my studies."的意思是「我關掉電視，好讓自己可以專心讀書。」而非「我關掉電視，所以我可以專心讀書。」
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