一些文法問題 (40分)

1.1 & 2) 先答1.1與2，因為答案是一樣
　南華日報絕對沒有錯誤，而且各大字典在chairman條下，也有不用冠詞的chairman例句

以下是【征服英語】的一篇，必能為你釋疑
　　　問： Prime minister（總理）、 chairman（主席）等名詞，什麼情況下必須冠以 the，什麼情況下不用？答：說總統、總理、主席、部門首長等團體內獨一無二的職位，一般不用 the；但說擔任這些職位的人，則必須用 the。《劍橋國際英文詞典》（ Cambridge International Dictionary of English） president條下例句正好說明這一點：（ 1） She became president of the local opera group（她出任當地歌劇團主席）。（ 2） She's a friend of the president of the bank（她是銀行總裁的朋友）。第二句說 president這個人，所以用 the；第一句說 president這個職位，假如用 the ，文法沒有錯，但讀起來不很自然。

1.2) 15 years from now, I imagine that it will get worse
"15years from now"既然不是子句，只是片語，當然無需用連接詞；
　　其實15 years from now是時間性的副詞片語，要來修飾get worse

３）the earlier British decision not to pursue a class action regime
　　 這是關乎不定詞(infinitive)的運用，不定詞其實可以當做形容詞用，如：
　　I have many things to do (to do形容many things)
　　He is not a man to tell a lie(to tell a lie是形容man)
　　同樣道理，not to pursue a class action regime也是用來形容the earlier British decision

４）第一條問題，我也覺得有點問題，但英文報紙因為要趕稿，有時出錯也是會有
　　這句應為Zhang said she was her family's only child, like the students who were killed were their families' only children because of Beijing's one-child rule.

　　至於"their families' only children"卻是正確，若寫成their families' only child，意思是指各家庭的獨生子同為一人；但按理應不是同一人，故也要用only children

５） "It's very scary," she said, noting students send one another alerts on social media if any danger is detected.
　　這句可這樣看
　　 "It's very scary," she said, noting (that) students send one another alerts on social media if any danger is detected.
這個that是可以省略的

你的問題很有意思，在此謝謝你的發問

希望幫到你！


2012-06-28 12:51:41 補充：
補充：Zhang said she, like the students who were killed, was her family’s only child because of Beijing’s one-child rule.

　　　這句不應怪南華早報，因為這句是引述Zhang所講的說話，所以文化的錯誤應是出於Zhang；當時她應是接受訪問，加上她又不是本土外國人，故說話時犯上文化錯誤，也無可厚非。

問題1: 點解兩度地方既chairman前都無加"the" or "a"? SCMP犯D低級文法錯誤?\寫報紙有時會使用另一套原則，當the/a或一些一般英語人都會自動明白的話，報紙/記者/編輯是會省去，因為印報的版位有限，如果每句都依足文法便會長長句子，所以報紙的寫法有時(大部份)都是以最簡短省略的句法寫的，把最重要的內容表達。如果老師/讀書時連這點也沒有教(講解)，那就是「英語科通識」的失敗了。Scmp不是犯了低級文法錯誤，是你還是停留在低級文法批評階段。
問題:"and that "15 years from now, I imagine that it will get worse." 句子結構係點? 點解好似無conj.? 唔通"and"係conj.? 但似乎唔係這句結構是把I imagine that it will get worse 15 years from now.轉為/拆為兩組子句/片語，這種結構”,”已經是一種conjunction，這種講法把重點先指出時序(或時空的位置/處境的關係，再詳述內容的主旨。

問題2: Incumbent前點解無"The" ?同上解釋，另外已經指出人名，已經implied是那一個。

問題3: 點解"not to pursue a class action regime"可以咁用黎形容"the earlier British decision "? 呢個係咩句型黎?句式的連繫是…British = Britian’s(英國的) decision not to …這是一句statement.就如US and British (which is the ruler/government of earlier in time) has the decision not to pursue a class action…regime是指時代的法規/政權/制度。我看得明，sorry所以唔係好明你看不明白的原因。


問題4.1: 好明顯"like the students who were killed"係補充only,可以唔要.
咁點解 she "were" their families' only children?句子的關連是Zhang said she is like the students who were killed. They (those student who were killed) were their families’ only children because of Beijing’s one-child rule.當然你的問題是按文法編排的結構來問，…she, xxx, was …xxx便是modify/附加解譯/形容she這種固定結構，但句子組合理解還要看內容的寫法的。這句用了遞進式的形容she, xxx形容she, yyy形容xxx.
問題4.2: "their families' only children" ? 會唔會應該係"their families' only child" 呢?按上回答，yyy形容的是those students who were killed的students是they，所以他們的家庭的「孩子」也是眾數的涵蓋他們。最後如按你對文法/句法的一向理解，這句應該寫法是Zhang said she, like the students who were killed, was her family’s only child because of Beijing’s one-child rule.文法上正確，但意思上重點變為在描述她個人身份，但請注意這新聞的重點是那些死去的人的身份，記者只是透過她(這個見證人)表達他們(那些死者)的身份-一孩家庭的孩子。
文字和句子結構是造成意思的工具，語文/文學不是被規則主導和控制的。文法是死的，要表達的意思才是生的，如何運用這工具達到溝通才是衡量的準則。

問題5: 點解唔係"noting students to send one another...."? noting是present participle (that) 指示一句statement (subject + verb + object)所以students + send + one another…