港人獨有常犯錯誤

求學是分階段的。一般中學英文教師，尤其是外籍的，基於學以致用的原則，

都要求學生寫多說，勸他們怕犯錯。教師鼓勵學生盡力溝通，以 communicative

fluency 為重點，叫他們不要過分擔心文 (grammatical accurarcy)。

可惜，良師的苦心往往成為庸生的藉口。不少人把教師鼓勵之言誤解為

「不須重視文法」，從而逃避學習，錯而不知，兼且知而不改。

以英語為母語的人寫英文時犯的錯，好比我們寫中文時犯的錯，多數是

劣習及風格上的謬誤，有些則代表著語文演變過程中的雅俗爭持情況。

西人寫英文犯的錯，和我們寫英文犯的錯，不能相提並論。

試看一些例子：

香港人常犯的錯誤

Wrong	Right
Would you mind to wait?	Would you mind waiting?
Because I was ill, so I was absent.	Because I was ill, I was absent. 或 I was ill, so I was absent.
I am happy to receive your letter. (回信)	I was happy to receive your letter. 或 I am happy to have received your letter

 

西人常犯的「錯」

俗	正宗
The committee is comprised of eight people	The committee comprises eight people.
I couldn't help but admire him.	I couldn't but admire him. 或 I couldn't help admiring him.
He is one of those people who keeps to himself.	He is one of those people who keep to themselves.

 

關於以上的「錯」及錯，有兩點值得一提。

1. 西人所犯的「錯」在大多數英文學習書籍中都有詳盡解釋，但香港人所犯的錯，

除了些專為香港學生編寫書籍外，極少專文談論。

2. 西人的「錯」，往往是 current usage ，雖然有違 standard English，我們也必須學習

，務求跟上時代。

那麼，是否所有英國人、美國人、澳洲人所寫的商業英文都是我們學習的榜樣呢？

未必。值得學習與否，既決定於執筆者的學養，也決定於文章的素質。