2013年3月20日星期三

古德明: 畢業證書寫法




問:敝校畢業證書寫法如下:Having completed the requirements prescribed by HKDSE Examination through the Christ College, So-and-so has been awarded this Graduation Certificate(某某於基督書院,按香港中學文憑試規定,修習完畢,因獲頒此畢業證書)。有同事認為,這段字有三處須修改,先生認為怎樣?

答:讀者那位同事認為HKDSE Examination之前應加theChrist College之前的the則應刪去,兩個修改都正確。指明某個考試,當然要用the,例如the General Certificate of Education Examination(普通教育證書考試)。學校名稱,則一般不用the帶出,除非校名用了of... 的句式,例如「石堅學院」叫Shek Kin College,「石堅武術學院」則叫the Shek Kin College of Martial Arts

又讀者那位同事認為,the requirements prescribed(所規定的事項)應改為the course prescribed(所規定的課程)。這修改卻似乎並無必要。兩個說法,意思當然略有不同,但在句子裏,文法都正確。

其實讀者示下那一句,下半截有點奇怪。要說「特此證明……」,英文一般不會說(So-and-sohas been awarded this certificate,而會說This is to certify that So-and so...。全句竊以為可改寫如下:This is to certify that So-and-so has completed the requirements prescribed by the HKDSE Examination at Christ College。留意Christ College之前,用inat都可以,意思是「在基督書院」;用through(經由),文法雖然沒有錯,但較為少見。