我经常听说,那些说着英语长大,即英语母语者经常会犯五个语法上的错误。英语确实是一门难以掌握的语言。下面是针对英语母语者给出的5个语法小建议。
1.Me and Tim, Tim and I
Wrong: Me and Tim are going to a movie tonight.
错误:我和蒂姆今晚要去看电影。
Right: Tim and I are going to a movie tonight.
正确:蒂姆和我今晚要去看电影。
Why?
为什么?
If you take Tim out of the sentence, "you" are the subject. You are going to a movie. When you’re going to a movie, what do you say?
如果将Tim从句子中去掉,那么就是“你”要去看电影。当你准备去看电影时,你会怎么说?
"I am going to a movie."
我要去看电影。
You wouldn’t say, "Me am going to a movie."
你不会说,Me am going to a movie。
When you add Tim, the sentence construction remains the same. You’re simply adding Tim, and it’s correct to say the other person’s name first.
当你加上Tim,句子结构也还是一样的。你只是多加了Tim一个人而已,将对方的名字放在前面是正确的。
"Tim and I are going to a movie."
蒂姆和我今晚要去看电影。
Your test is always to take the other person out of the sentence, decide on "I" or "me," and then put the other person back in.
你只要将另一个人先从句子中去除,决定是用是I还是me,然后将之前的人加入即可。
2.We Was, We Were
"Am, are, was, and were" are all parts of the powerful little verb, "to be."
Am, are, was, and were都属于简短但大有作用的be动词。
What trips people up with this mighty little verb is present tense and past tense. If something is happening now, it’s present tense. If it already happened, it’s past tense.
面对这类简短而有作用的动词,到底是用现在时还是过去时会使人们犯难。如果表示的是现在发生的事,就用现在时。如果事情已经发生了,就用过去时。
Singular and plural also becomes a problem. Compare the following:
单复数也是一个问题。比较下面的句子:
We (Tim and I) "are" going to a movie. (present tense, plural)
我们(蒂姆和我)要去看电影。(现在时,复数)
I "am" going to a movie. (present tense, singular)
我要去看电影。(现在时,单数)
We (Tim and I) "were" going to a movie. (past tense, plural)
我们(蒂姆和我)曾经去看过电影。(过去式,复数)
I "was" going to a movie. (past tense, singular)
我那时准备去看电影。(过去时,单数)
Can you hear the difference?
你能看出它们的不同吗?
It is never correct to say, "We was..."
We was的说法是错误的。
Why? Because we is plural. We always "were"...
为什么?因为we是复数形式的,后面应该接were。
Variation on this problem:
观察这类问题的变化:
I see. I saw. I have seen.
(正确)
Never: I seen.
(错误)
3.Had Ran, Had Run
I heard this on the scanner in the newsroom one day: "He had ran into the woods by the time I got there."
有一天,我在新闻编辑室的扫描仪上看到一句话:“我一到那儿,他就钻进了森林。”
Wrong.
错误
正确:
"He had run into the woods by the time I got there."
This is a problem of not understanding the perfect tense.
这是对完成时态的误解。
It’s confusing, no doubt.
无疑,完成时态确实会让人摸不着头脑。
4.She Don’t, She Done
This is a problem of conjugating the verb, "to do."
这是动词不定式to do用法的错误。
Wrong: She don’t know what she’s talking about. (You wouldn’t say, "She do not know...")
错误:她不知道自己在说什么。(不能说She do not know)
Right: She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. (She does not know...)
正确:她不知道自己在说什么。(She does not know)
Wrong: Everyone knows she done it. ("Done" is not the past tense of did.)
错误:每个人都知道她的所作所为。(done不是did的过去式)
Right: Everyone knows she did it.
正确:每个人都知道她的所作所为。
5.It’s Broke, It’s Broken
We’re not talking finances here. Well, fixing whatever is broken might involve finances, but that’s another matter altogether.
我们并不是在这里讨论费用的问题。将毁坏的东西修好确实需要金钱,但这是题外话。
I hear people say, "It’s broke," when they mean, "It’s broken."
我发现,当人们想表达某物坏掉的意思时,他们会说“It’s broke.”
This problem has to do with the part of speech called past participles. Listen:
这个问题就涉及到就是过去分词的词性问题。请听以下表达:
It breaks.
它坏了。
It broke.
(过去时)
It has broken. 或: It is broken.它已经坏了。
错误: It is broke.