問:要說「築橋的工作」,英文是the construction of the bridge、construction of
the bridge還是construction of bridge?
答:「(說某種行為或狀態的)甲名詞+of+乙名詞」這句式,甲名詞一般都冠以the,例如the
demolition of houses(房子之拆毀)、the suspension of the
meeting(會議之暫停)、the failure of a plan(計劃之失敗)等:那demolition專言房子,suspension專言會議,failure專言計劃,都有「專指某事」含義,所以都冠以the。
有時,句子開頭的冠詞會略去,例如:Construction of another bridge would cost a lot(再起一座橋,花費會不少)。這一句的construction之前,絕對可以加the。
至於construction
of bridge這寫法,則當然不對。Bridge等單數可數名詞(countable
noun),不可沒有a、the等冠詞。
問:China
Petrochemical Corporation is still losing money, and the reason is because
Beijing has yet to allow this market to operate solely on commercial principles這一句,because是不是應改為that?
答:這一句是說「中國石化集團公司仍然虧本,因為北京仍未容許石化市場純粹按商業原則作業」。The reason is because即「原因是因為」,無疑是疊牀架屋說法,不少英語學者也不以為然,認為應說the reason is that。不過,the reason is because這說法十分常見,你可以不仿效,卻不可視為錯誤。