2012年9月27日星期四

古德明: 未來的事




問:梁振英政府宣布啟德機場故址將興建只賣給港人的樓宇,有報紙評論說:「Let's assume that the developers would have built the flats anyway, even without the condition that they can only be sold to Hong Kongers(假設即使沒有『只售與港人』條款,地產商仍會興建這些樓宇)。」「Would have+動詞」,不是應說過去的事嗎?這一句怎麼卻是說未來的事?

答:「Would have+動詞」一般都是說過去的事,例如:If he had been more careful, he would have succeeded(要是他當時小心一點,就不會不成功)。

不過,這句式偶然也會用來說現在或未來的假設情況,那「would have+動詞」和「would+動詞」沒有什麼分別。英語學者斯旺的Practical English Usage就有以下例句:(1It would have been / It would be nice to go to Australia this winter, but there's no way we can do it(今年冬天,我們可以去澳洲就好了,只是實在沒辦法)。(2If my mother hadn't knocked my father off his bicycle thirty years ago, I wouldn't have been / I wouldn't be here now(要是三十年前家母沒有把腳踏車上的家父撞倒,我現在就不會在這裏)。這類「Would have+動詞」句子,多帶「某事現在或未來已不可能如此」含義。

讀者示下那一句,would have built改為would build文法上是絕對可以的,只是would have built多了點「不受『只售與港人』條款限制已不可能」含義。