2012年4月23日星期一

古德明: 補習社告示、使明亮



問:某英文補習社有告示說:The before-mentioned discount shall only be given to whom is able to produce his / her identity card(上述折扣,只給予可以出示身分證者)。句子whom字之後,是不是應加一個who

答:Whomto的受詞(object),但其後子句(clause)卻缺乏主詞(subject),所以那位讀者認為應加一個who字。不過,whomwho不可以這樣連用,二者只能擇一。由於be given tois able to produce之間的代名詞,受其後子句的牽制較大,所以文法上應用who取代whom。但即使改用who,說起來也很不自然,不會有人說。最好的寫法,是把whom改為those who。全句我會改寫如下:The afore-mentioned / above-mentioned discount is only available to those who can produce valid identity cards

問:You brighten my daysYou brighten up my days這兩句,哪一句正確?

答:這兩句都正確,意思也都是「你令我生活變得愉快」。Brightenbrighten up一般通用,指「使……明亮」、「使(精神等)開朗」,例如:(1She visibly brightenedupwhen she learned that her children were safe(她聽到她的孩子無恙,明顯精神一振)。(2Red roses would brightenupthis garden(種些紅玫瑰,這個花園會生色不少)。

〔代郵〕朱先生:「無所名一錢」及「不名一文」之「名」,指「名下佔有」。
《史記》卷六十八言商鞅變法,「明尊卑爵秩等級,各以差次名田宅」,即是此意。