2013年5月20日星期一

古德明: 在對面



  
問:英國著名童話《鏡中世界》(Through the Looking Glass)有以下一句:"So young a child," said the gentleman sitting opposite to her, "ought to know which way she's going."(坐在她對面的那個先生說:「這樣年輕的孩子,該知道自己正往哪裏去。」)但《朗文當代英文辭典》不是說opposite to to應刪去嗎?

答:朗文辭典opposite條下附注是:Do not say that one thing is "opposite to" or "opposite of" another. Say that one thing is "opposite" another。根據這說法,AB對面,應說A is opposite B,不應說A is opposite to / opposite of B。辭典例句是:The people sitting opposite us looked very familiar(坐在我們對面的人,看來很面善)。其實這一句和《鏡中世界》那一句,同樣是正確英文。

英國Bloomsbury出版社的Good English Guide說得很清楚:As a preposition, "opposite" may be followed by "to"not "of"but usually stands aloneOpposite 用作介系詞,其後可用to,不可用of,但這個字通常會單獨使用)。換言之,以下一句,用不用to都正確:The school is oppositetothe church(學校就在教堂對面)。

留意opposite假如作名詞,其後會用of,用to一般視為錯誤,例如:"Fat" is the opposite of "thin"(「胖」和「瘦」相反)。