問:我今年中學畢業,科技大學來函邀我出席mass session,意思是什麼?又信中有I would
like to introduce you to the engineering programme(我想給你介紹工程學課程)一語,但我們可以introduce
something to somebody,可不可以introduce somebody to
something?
答:Mass用在名詞之前,作形容詞,指「眾多(人、物)」,例如mass
production(大量生產)、mass demonstration(大批民眾示威)等。科大那封信所說mass
session,應是指很多人出席的課程簡介會。
至於introduce somebody to something這說法,絕對沒有錯。生物學入門、英文文法入門之類書籍,往往以An
Introduction to Biology / English Grammar等為名,那當然是to
introduce readers to biology / English grammar的意思。第一版《朗文當代高級英文辭典》introduce條就有以下例句:Let me introduce you to (the pleasures of) dancing(我教你認識跳舞(的樂趣)吧)。
問:The pet shop is the best hotel for pets which you can
find in London(這家寵物店,是倫敦最好的寵物旅館)一語,which怎麼不是指pets而是指hotel?Which之類關係代名詞(relative pronoun),不是應緊貼所述名詞的嗎?
答:關係代名詞一般的確緊貼其所代表的名詞,但有時礙於句子結構,只要不會引起誤會,則相隔若干字也無妨。當然,假如改變原句的意思,則which可以指pets:
The pet shop is the best hotel for pets which are looking for new masters(這家寵物店,對要找新主人的寵物來說,是最佳的旅館)。