名人教英文 – 「大家咁話!」

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23/11/2009

名人教英文 – 「大家咁話!」 陳淑莊

無論是什麼語言,表達認同往往是交流的第一步。

和朋友談及「我喜歡看話劇、吃川菜和跑步」,如果他也喜歡,正常情况下他會回答「我也是」,而絕少會累贅地重複「我也喜歡看話劇、吃川菜和跑步」。

英文也不例外,最常用而又最易用的,一定是「Me too」或簡單一句「Same」。除此以外,其實還有其他表示認同的說法。

譬如說: 「I am really looking forward to the drama!」回答者可以說me too、same here 或者so am I,前兩者語氣較隨便和通俗,so am I 則正式之餘,不失簡單,即使日常生活對朋友用都不會顯得做作。

但我留意到不少學習英文的朋友都分不清so am I 和so do I。其實這兩種說法都是倒裝句(inverted sentence),原句應該是I am so 和I do so。So 的意思指講者口中他是什麼(am)或做什麼)do,或其他動詞)。所以,如果有人說「I insist that wehave universal suffrage」,表示認同就應可說So do I 而不是Soam I, 因為認同的是對方堅持(insist)普選,而insist 是動詞,所以要用上so do I。

如果認同對方一個negative statement,原理和上述一樣,不過so 轉作neither。例如I don’t think that he’s getting his jobdone,如果你也覺得他沒有做好呢份工,可以說Neither do I(think that he’s getting his job done)。一般而言,只要說neitherdo I,但如果想加強語氣,又或想加點解釋,可以較清楚地說Neither do I think that he’s getting his job done, but at leasthe’s slightly less than a total disaster like the previous one.(我也不覺得他有做好呢份工,但最少他還未至於上一個般一敗塗地。)

多媒體教室

網上收聽:english.mingpao.com/mp3_09.htm

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