2008年11月5日 星期三

順帶一提

週日替學生檢查英文作文,見她有理沒理,在文章的轉折位全加上 by the way,看得栗子妹苦笑連連。


By the way 是一個用來轉話題的連接詞,有「順帶一提」之意。這個詞並非百搭,不能胡亂使用。壹學堂有一篇短文,解釋得非常清楚,各位有空不妨一看。[按:請參看 The Teacher 的留言,「除此以外」並非合適的翻譯。]


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提起連接詞,腦海頓時浮現 and ()or ()but (但是)so (所以) 這四大天王。記得某天跟朋友A茶聚,我們在爭論到底 but 前面可不可以有 comma (逗號)。朋友 A 說,從小到大,老師都教 but 前面沒有 comma 的,例如:She is nervous but happy. (她憂心之餘,也很高興。) 不過栗子妹就認為,如果 but 前面是一句較長的句子,用 comma 分隔才清楚嘛!


由於當日只有我和 A「撐枱腳」,這場爭辯最終是不了了之~~~


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除了上述的四大天王,今時今日的小學生,還要學一個比較少用的連接詞:therefore (因此)Therefore 多用於正經八百的文章,如報章社評、演講辭之類,不過偶爾見到一些補充練習,竟然在朋友間的電郵往來中也用上 therefore 一字!這樣子亂來,成何體統?!


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噫,我明明只想說 by the way,結果順帶一提,就提了那麼多東西出來……


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既然提了那麼多,那就不妨順帶一提,這是練習場第六百篇網誌,謝謝各位一直捧場!


14 則留言:

  1. "栗子妹第六百篇網誌"  
    BS2全體工作人員恭賀
    [版主回覆11/07/2008 07:40:00]謝謝BS2!
    全體工作人員?到底有多少個BS2?

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  2. If  除此以外   is the same as "in addition", then it's not "by the way".  I like 順帶一提  much better.  What comes after "by the way" must be secondary in importance.
    Comma after "but"? The only time I see it in professional writing is when the sentence starts with "But", which, in itself, is not really appropriate, according to most business English gurus.  As far as extra long sentences are concerned, well, there'll be commas everywhere then, not just after "but".  Then again, some grammarians would say extra long sentences do not belong in good writings either.  Anyway, I get all confused by these rules myself.
    連接詞 is conjunction, yes? A grammarian once tried to convince me that "and", "but", and "or" are the only 3.  All those others, like "so", "therefore", "when", "which", "then" and others are a different breed of animal.  Of course, I wanted to gag him as soon as I heard the word "conjunction". 
    [版主回覆11/07/2008 07:50:00]Dear Teach: Thanks for your explanation! I agree with you that '除此以外' is not appropriate. I'll correct my blog later.
    I'm talking about comma before 'but'. As far as I can remember, I have never put a comma after 'but'. I don't understand why it is not good to start a sentence with 'But', is there any reason behind this rule?
    I was thinking about 'connectives' when I put down 連接詞. I wondered what is the difference between 'conjunctions'  and 'connectives' as I learnt only conjunctions in secondary school. And according to a grammar book published by Longman, a conjunction is a kind of connectives. Ha!
    Here is another mystery: Why can't we say 'simple future tense' when we have 'simple present tense' and 'simple past tense'?

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  3. 你繼續寫,我哋一定繼續支持的 !
    [版主回覆11/07/2008 07:53:00]有 Nicole 這一句,栗子妹絕對會寫得更落力!

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  4.  要謝謝栗子妹願意與我們分享, 而且, 時不時地, 栗子妹也能讓暖暖溫故而知新呢 ~~
    [版主回覆11/07/2008 07:54:00]是我要謝謝暖暖願意聽栗子妺的碎碎唸
    不是讓學生氣著,我才不會想到要寫出來

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  5. 不經不覺, 已是第六百篇網誌喇.  我每次看BLOG, 總習慣看練習場先. 衷心祝賀第六百篇的 栗子妹的練習場 .
    [版主回覆11/07/2008 07:57:00]謝謝一休!
    上次一休來祝賀練習場第五百篇網誌,好像才是不久之前的事,想不到那麼快便多了一百篇出來 。
    幸得各位的支持和鼓勵,不然這個練習場怕已倒閉多時

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  6. 嘩,第600篇網誌,真係勁呀!
    [版主回覆11/07/2008 07:58:00]謝謝井兄誇獎!
    井兄每日一篇才真是勁呢!還要是每篇都寫得那麼好

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  7. 六百篇網誌,可喜可賀 ,keep 住一日寫一篇真係唔容易,佩服佩服。
    [版主回覆11/07/2008 07:59:00]閒兄:樓下那位才是每日一篇呀,我間唔中都會偷懶幾日的
    謝謝祝賀!

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  8. 業精於勤,恭賀第六百篇。
    哈哈,  besides, nevertheless, in the connection, to the contrary ......
    [版主回覆11/07/2008 08:00:00]謝謝乏言先生祝賀!
    見乏言先生列舉例子,讓栗子妹想起,是時候給學生進進補,印幾張連接詞的練習給她做了

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  9. I read your "comma before but" correctly but it registered in my brain as "after"   That's what happens when you get old, you see...
    Ok, starting a sentence with "but" is ok if it's like "But for the grace of God go I", or something fancy like that.  I think what those gurus are against is the incomplete thoughts often used in oral English expressed in writing, especially if it starts with something like "But if ......", that kind of thing.  On the "comma before but", I'm with you.  In fact, I think there should be a comma even in a short sentence.
    Parts of speech part of grammar really bores me and I never paid attention to it until I started teaching in HK.  The system here is really into this stuff, even more so than actual communicating.
    Conjunctions and connectives, I bet it's like articles and determiners.  One of them is "kind of" like the other...
    I don't understand your last question.  I use "simple future tense", as in "I will see you in the next T&R dinner", don't you?  
     
    [版主回覆11/07/2008 08:27:00]Dear Teach: Don't forget 'possessive pronouns' and 'possesive adjectives', and 'this', 'that', 'these', 'those' as 'demonstrative pronouns' and 'demonstratives' (under the category 'determiners')
    For the last question, I'm talking about the name of the tense. My colleage s told me that I should say 'Future tense' instead of 'Simple future tense' as there is no such thing. I don't know why ...

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  10. if "i will see you tomorrow" is just future tense, instead of simple future tense, what do you call "I will be seeing you tomorrow", or "I will have seen you by tomorrow". or "I will have been seeing you for 2 years by tomorrow"??
    [版主回覆11/09/2008 20:11:00]Dear Teach: I would call them 'Future continuous tense', 'Future perfect tense' and 'Future perfect continuous tense'. I don't understand why the word 'simple' have to be omitted.
    On your previous comment, I don't think you misread my sentence because you are getting old la . It has something to do with the fatigue of online reading, I believe.
    I wonder if you have heard of the term 'TOC' (Target Oriented Approach'. About ten years ago, EDB was so obsessed with the communicative approach that it forbade publishers to introduce grammar terms in primary English textbooks. I don't think those terms are necessary, but they give students an idea about the structure of English sentences. I think we need to understand the grammar of a language before we can use it, or it's just a waste of time. You'll never make a correct sentence by using the communicative approach only.
    And thanks a lot for your information on 'but'!

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  11. 那裡,那裡!在下只不過胡亂寫寫而已,實在算不上好呢?!
    [版主回覆11/09/2008 20:12:00]井兄:好就要讚,唔好就要彈。我是一粒有要求的栗子,除非真係好嘢,唔係我好少讚架

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  12. 請問有無精選推介呀?!
    [版主回覆11/09/2008 20:13:00]南爾:我之前試過想選十篇出來作精選推介,結果只選到兩篇。有些文實在太爛了......

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  13. 恭喜粟子妹!寫六百篇網誌不易。你還能持續不斷地寫,很難得!(我所訂閱的blog有一半都幾個月沒update)
    你的blog很好看,繼續努力!
    [版主回覆11/09/2008 20:14:00]謝謝芝芝讚賞
    第一篇已說明是開 blog 練筆的,不勤力點不行啊!

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  14. Well, I think your friend is full of it.  The first sentence should be Simple Future, with the "future" in front.  All 4 I mentioned together are the "Future Tenses", just like there are 4 Present Tenses, and 4 Past Tenses.
     
    I agree with you that we need some grammar.  The HK gov't went too far in dropping grammar when they picked up the communicative approach years ago.  I am now getting the victims of that policy, in their 20s.  Their grammar is totally 晤見得人
    [版主回覆11/16/2008 16:52:00]Dear Teach:
    1) Totally agree with you. My friend wouldn't tell me why I shouldn't put 'simple' in front of 'future tense'. She just said I shouldn't.
    2) Bad policies make everyone suffer, right?

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