#跟蕭叔叔學英文寫作:
【沒人看得明的怪物文】
[明報專訊]中學時,網友T英文科表現一直「標青」,更在公開考試考得5**滿分,上到大學,一心以為英文難不倒他,可是每次交論文,都被教授評為辭不達意,有時甚至得不到評分,因為教授看不明白,要發還重寫。
T於是向蕭叔叔求救,並附上彈回頭的論文請蕭叔叔評理。蕭叔叔只讀一段,就發覺問題所在:文章充斥不符句法、不顧場合亂用的深字長句,教授看不明實在無可厚非。然而這正是好多香港人寫英文的通病。
蕭叔叔經常同寫作的學生說:Writing is an exercise of expressing your inner thoughts and ideas. And it’s not a competition of showing off how many words and sentence structures you know. 也就是說,寫作為了傳情達意,不是為了炫耀懂幾多個字。
好多人初學英文,以為用字越長越深,越厲害,有時死背一些新字,勉強塞進句子,卻不曉得這字適用的場合和語境。例如好多高中生唔知點解好喜歡用的aforementioned一字,通常只見於法律文件;假如用於朋友間的書信,甚至是letters to the editor,都會奇怪。
又例如opine一字,字面意思的確是to be of the opinion的意思,或簡單來說,就是think。但字面意思差不多,不代表任何用think字的場合都可用opine取代,因為opine也是超級極之formal,用於法律文書尚算合適,但日常寫作是在用不著。
正如給女友情信不會用到「台鑒」、「敬啟者」之類的正式公文用語;平時寫作也不必用到opine、aforementioned等字。要說「班上的女生很漂亮」,寫I think the girls in my class are quite pretty就可以了,別寫:I opine that the ubiquity of attractive members of the female sex is quite prominent in the aforementioned classroom.
如此怪物,是無人看得明的。
蕭叔叔
文:蕭愷一
作者簡介:蕭愷一,AKA蕭叔叔。夢想做男神,現實是大叔的英文教學狂熱份子,law grad,哲學碩士dropout,語言學愛好者。以 speak English like an educated native 為教與學的終極目標。
「aforementioned in a sentence」的推薦目錄:
aforementioned in a sentence 在 Lifthardwl Facebook 的精選貼文
This sentence in this post by Papayats, is something I have to admit, I used to do as well.
"I'm not a big fan of cameras and scientists, because they destroy concentration and training of the athlete"
I used to be a big fan of the science. The concepts of what's perfect, what's the best, etc. I get so fixated by the "small stuff" that I completely miss the big picture.
I used to be a stickler for technique based on a certain template, but having travelled, and seen different strokes used to draw the same picture, I've simplified it so much, and so differently, many things I used to think was important, I don't have to care about anymore.
I've learned when I made the lifter pull exactly how I want. His numbers dropped, he feels awkward, and he overthinks. I release those shackles, and he lifts not exactly how I want, hits a PB/PR, and loves training again.
A weightlifting athlete has to be;
1. Strong
2. Powerful
3. Able to display the aforementioned qualities, by lifting bigger numbers with his or her technique. Of course within the "limits" of good technique.
In the pulls? Pull high, pull close, pull a bit more to get under.
In the jerk? Push high, slide feet, receive.
I'm just the make-up artist. Not the superstar.