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Q：由於 in 與時間長短的字詞連用時有「在 (一段時間) 之內」和「在 (一段時間) 之後」這兩個不同的意思。請問在 I’ll be back in an hour. 這句中，in an hour 是 within an hour 還是 after an hour 呢?

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A：如果是過去發生的情況，那麼 in an hour 的意思是「一小時內 (within an hour)」(這亦適用於 in 與其他表示時間長短的字詞連用的情況)：

  • My boss thought it would take longer, but I completed the report in half an hour (半小時內；不到半小時) yesterday afternoon. (我老闆認為要花更長的時間，但我昨天下午不到半小時就完成了這份報告)
  • He wrote the novel in six weeks (六週內；不到六週的時間) last summer when he was on holiday in Japan. (去年夏天他在日本度假時花了不到六週的時間就完成了這本小說)

如果是未來的情況，那麼 in an hour 的意思通常是「一小時後 (after an hour)」。此外，我們常見的一種類似的時間表示法或寫法，如 in an hour’s time, in three days’ time 等等，它們的意思就相當於用在未來情況的 in an hour, in three days 等等，不過後者的寫法比較簡單：

  • It’ll be ready in about half an hour (約半小時後；過了大約半小時之後). (大約半小時後就會準備好了)
  • It’ll be ready in half an hour’s time. (半小時後就會準備好了)
  • It won’t be ready for half an hour. (這無法在半小時準備好)
  • I’ll see you again in six months (六個月後；過了六個月之後). (六個月後我會再和你見面)
  • I’ll see you again in six months’ time. (六個月後我會再和你見面)
  • I shan’t see you again for six months. (未來六個月我不會再和你見面)

上面的例句中有兩句的介系詞是用 for 而不是 in，為什麼? 這是因為在 first、only、否定詞和最高級之後，美國用 in 而英國用 for。

在肯定句中，for 通常表示動作或事件持續的時間，所以 in an hour 跟 for an hour 的意思是不同的。試比較下面的句子：

  • He learnt English in three weeks. (他在三個禮拜內學會了英語)
  • He learnt English for three weeks. (他學了三個禮拜的英語)
  • It’s two o’clock; I’ll come in an hour. (現在是兩點鐘；我將在一個鐘頭之後來 — 也就是三點過後來)
  • It’s two o’clock; I’ll come for an hour. (現在是兩點鐘；我將會來一個小時 — 也就是從兩點待到三點)
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Q：在表示兩地的距離方向時，下列那一種寫法才正確? (1) X City is about 30 kilometers to the south of Y Town. (2) X City is about 30 kilometers south of Y Town.

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A：這兩種寫法都正確，意思完全一樣。不過，第 (1) 句的 south 是名詞，而第 (2) 句的 south 是副詞。其他表示方向的字 (north, east, west, northeast, northwest 等等)，用法亦同。在英文中，吾人經常使用不確定詞來表示兩地的距離，如 Taipei is a long way north of Taichung. (台北位在台中以北很遠的地方)；Kaohsiung is a few kilometers to the south of Tainan. (高雄位在台南南方數公里處)。

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get over; get over with; get round/around; get round/around to; get through; get through to; get to

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get over +
從 (疾病、失敗等) 中恢復過來
It took me ages to get over the bout of flu.

get over +
克服，解決 (問題)
It took us a long time to get over the problems with the computer system.

get * over +
傳達；使人瞭解
He makes jokes to help get his message over.

(can’t/couldn’t) get over +
(簡直無法) 相信、置信 (表示非常驚訝)
Tell me again, I can’t get over it!

get over +
越過；橫過；橫越
We couldn’t get over the river because of the floods.

get over
來或去 (某地)
He said he needed help and ask me to get over as soon as I could.

get * over with
做，做完 (某事)
I wanted to get the interview over with as quickly as possible.

get round/around +
說服 (某人) (做某事) — 美式英語用 around
She didn’t want to let me do it, but I succeeded in getting round her.

get round/around +
(找到) 解決或規避問題 (的辦法)
We’re nearly ready, but there are few little problems we have to get round before we finish.

get round/around
(消息等) 傳開，傳播；(大家都) 知道了
It didn’t take long for news of his resignation to get round.

get round/around to +
抽出時間做某事；(拖延或耽擱後) 開始做某事
I should be able to get round to that job next week.
We must get around to cleaning those windows.

get through
(電話、無線電等) 打通，接通
I tried calling her mobile phone, but I couldn’t get through.

get through +
吃完，喝完；花光；用完，用光
He gets through two bottles of wine a day.

get through +
完成，結束，處理完 (工作等)
I’m going to take some work home because I haven’t managed to get through it all today.

get through
完成，結束，處理完 (工作等)
Call me when you get through.

get through +
通過 (考試、測驗、測試等)
My car didn’t get through its inspection.

get * through
幫 (某人或某物) 通過 (考試、測驗、測試等)
My teacher got me through the exam.

get through +
度過，熬過 (困境、困難的日子等)
We will have to be careful with our money to get through the month.

get * through
(使在議會等) 通過 (法律、法案、議案等)
Getting a bill through Congress is a long process.

get through
(法律、法案、議案等) (在議會等) 獲得通過
If the proposal gets through, it’ll make things much better for us.

get through +
(使) 通過 (某空間)；穿過，貫穿，穿透
We need a stronger drill to get through this wall.
The water got through the roof and damaged the carpets.

get through
通過，穿過
The door was jammed, so we couldn’t get through.

get through
(使) 到達；(使) 傳到
The message didn’t get through.

get through to +
使 (某人) 明白，理解
I explained it carefully, but I just couldn’t get through to him.

get through to +
打通或接通 (電話、無線電等) 給
I rang but couldn’t get through to her.

get through to +
進入 (下一階段)
If they win, they’ll get through to the quarterfinals.

get to +
使 (某人) 生氣，惱怒
Don’t let her get to you; she’s just in a bad mood.

get to +
(使) 到達 (某地)
When I get to it, I’ll look at the matter carefully.

get to +
開始做某事；開始討論某主題
We asked him to get to the point, but he just waffled away.

本文亦刊載在下列網址：
http://htmfiles.englishhome.org/phrasalverbs/phrasalverbs-g.htm

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Q：Your mother must be looking for you. 和 Your mother must have been looking for you. 這兩句話的意思有何不同?

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A：這兩句話的意思都是「你媽媽一定一直在找你」，但 Your mother must be…. 是表示對現在某個動作是否正在進行的推測，而 Your mother must have been…. 則是對過去某個動作是否在進行的推測。在英文中，經常會使用語氣助動詞來表達對過去、現在或未來某個狀態或動作之發生的推測，而具有這種功能的語氣助動詞有 must, could, may 和 might。由於這種用法很常見，為了讓讀者能夠徹底瞭解，在此特予詳細說明。

首先，大家要記住的一點是，語氣助動詞本身並沒有人稱和數的變化，且大多不表示時態的變化；它們本身也不能表示正在發生或已經發生的事情，只能表示期待或推測事情的發生。上述四個語氣助動詞在表示「推測」的意思時，其「肯定性」(certainty) 或「可能性」(possibility) 的強度依序為：must (一定、肯定、想必、諒必)，could (很可能)，may，might (也許)。

1. 對現在或未來之事情的推測：must/could/may/might + BE 動詞 — 雖然每個語氣助動詞都有多個意思，但在表示「推測」的意思時，這些助動詞後面通常接 BE 動詞。

  • You have worked hard all day. You must be tired. (你辛苦工作一整天，一定累了)
  • I don’t know where she is. She may be in Taipei. (我不知道她 [現在] 在那裡，也許人在台北)

2. 對現在或未來正在進行之事情的推測：must/could/may/might + BE 動詞 + V-ing。

  • At this moment, our teacher must be correcting our exam papers. (這時候我們老師想必正在批改試卷)

再次提醒讀者：must/could/may/might 是否表示「推測」的意思，取決於其後是接 BE 動詞還是普通動詞而定。試比較下面兩句的差異：

  • He must be staying there. (他現在肯定留在那裡)
  • He must stay there. (他必須留在那裡)

3. 對過去已發生之事情的推測：must/could/may/might + have + P.P. (亦即 must/could/may/might + 現在完成式)。

  • He may [might] have been hurt seriously in the car accident. (他在車禍中也許傷得很重)
  • The road is wet. It must have rained last night. (路面濕答答的，昨晚一定有下雨)
  • Tom could have taken the money; he was there alone yesterday. (錢很可能是湯姆拿走，昨天那裡只有他一個人在)

4. 對過去正在發生之事情的推測：must/could/may/might + have + been + V-ing (亦即 must/could/may/might + 現在完成進行式)。

  • —Why didn’t you answer my phone call? (你為什麼沒有接我的電話?)
    —Well, I must have been sleeping, so I didn’t hear it. (哦，我 [當時] 一定正在睡覺，所以沒有聽到電話響)

5. 至於推測的否定或疑問形式，現在或未來式用 can’t + BE 動詞，而過去式用 can’t/couldn’t + have + P.P.，意為「一定不；一定未；一定沒有」。這相當於表示「推測」的 must 的否定或疑問詞；說得更明確一點，表示「推測」的 must，肯定時用 must + BE 動詞或 must + have + P.P.，否定時用 can’t + BE 動詞或 can’t/couldn’t + have + P.P.，我們不可在 must 後面直接加 not，因為 must not 或 mustn’t 是在表示「禁止，不准」，不是表示「推測」。

  • If Tom didn’t leave here until five o’clock, he can’t be home yet. (如果湯姆 5 點才離開這裡，那麼此時他一定還未到家)
  • Mike can’t have found his car, for he came to work by bus this morning. (麥可一定還沒有找到他的車，因為早上他是坐公車來上班的)
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Q：「兩起事件相距不到多少時間發生」及「兩棟建築物相距不到多少距離」中的相距不到多少時間及相距不到多少距離，如何用英文表達?

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A：英文中似乎有個「慣用語」可以表達這樣的意思，那就是 “within () of each other”，括弧中放的是「多少時間」以及「多少距離」的數量和單位。舉例來說會比較容易瞭解：Seventy-year-old twin brothers have been run over by lorries and killed while cycling in separate accidents within three hours of each other. (兩名 70 歲的孿生兄弟先後在騎單車時遭到卡車輾斃，兩起意外事故相距不到 3 小時)；Two young Palestinians fall victim to landmines within one hour of each other. (兩名巴勒斯坦青年相距不到一小時先後成為地雷的受害者 )；There are two bird’s nest specialty shops here. They are within 2.5 kilometers of each other. (這裡有兩家燕窩專賣店，兩者相距不到 2.5 公里)。

當然，括弧內也可以用其他計量單位，視你要表達的意思而定。

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Electric, electrical (adjs.)

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Electric 意為「用電的，電動的；電的，發電的，帶電的」，而 electrical 意為「用電的；與電有關的」。所以，這兩個形容詞在「用電的，電動的」意思上是同義詞。然而，由於 electric 大多用於特指，而 electrical 用於泛指，因此在大部分的情況中，一般都慣用 electric 來表示這項意思，如 electric blanket (電毯)、electric chair (電椅)、electric clock (電鐘)、electric fan (電扇)、electric motor (電動馬達)、electric razor (電動刮鬍刀) 等等，但 electric/electrical appliances (家電)、electric/electrical apparatus (電氣設備)、electric/electrical storm (電閃雷鳴的暴風雨) 則是兩者通用。

在其他意思上，它們就有比較明顯的區別。總體而言，electric 用來指可發電或帶電的東西 — 如 electric generator (發電機)、electric current (電流)、electric socket (電插座)、electric shock (觸電) — 以及指直接靠電力操作或由電力生產的東西 (如上面所舉的例子)；而 electrical 則用來指從事與電有關之工作的人及其工作，或指與電力有間接關連的事物，如 electrical engineering (電機工程)、electrical engineer (電機工程師)、electrical fault (電力故障 — 指與電力有關的故障，並非電力直接造成的故障)。

Electric 還可用於比喻，但 electrical 則不行。這一比喻性意思 –「令人興奮的」(very exciting, stimulating, or thrilling) — 不難見到其應用：The atmosphere was electric. (氣氛很 high)；His speech had an electric effect on the crowd. (他的演說對群眾有振奮人心的作用)。

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Q：”You have spelt it wrong.” 這樣寫對嗎? 還是應該把句中的 wrong 改為 wrongly 呢?

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A：wrongly 是副詞，而 wrong 也可當副詞用。一般通用的規則是：wrongly 放在它所修飾的動詞之前，而 wrong 放在它所修飾的動詞之後，如 He has been wrongly accused. (他被誣告)；You guessed wrong. (你猜錯了)。所以，You have spelt it wrong. (你把它拼錯了) 是正確的句子，不可把句中的 wrong 改為 wrongly。

Wrong/wrongly 的反義詞 right/rightly 的用法亦同，如 I am rightly informed. (我得到正確的消息)；Did I do it right? (我做得對嗎?)。但 if I remember right/rightly (如果我沒有記錯的話) 這個附屬子句則是此規則的一個明顯例外，因為這裡用 right 或 rightly 都可以：He was driving his mum’s car, if I remember right/rightly. (如果我沒記錯的話，他開的是他媽媽的車)。此外，rightly or wrongly (對或不對) 這個片語不可寫成 right or wrong，而且前後順序也不能對調，亦即不能寫成 wrongly or rightly：He believed, rightly or wrongly, that she was guilty. (他也許對也許不對，但不管怎樣，他認為她有罪)。再者，由 wrong (副詞) 所構成的幾個片語都相當常用，如 get someone wrong (誤會、誤解某人)：Don’t get me wrong, there’s no offence meant. (別誤會，我沒有冒犯之意)；go wrong (出錯，搞錯，弄錯；走錯方向；不對勁)：I didn’t know where I went wrong. (我不知道我錯在那裡)。

順便一提的是，spell 的過去式和過去分詞都有兩種拼法，一是 “spelt, spelt”，另一是 “spelled, spelled”，前者是英式英語的拼法，而美國人大多使用後者。

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Awake, awaken, wake, waken (vv.)

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這四個動詞大致上可視為同義詞，它們皆可當及物和不及物動詞用，也都有字面和比喻的意思，前者意為「喚醒；弄醒；(使) 醒來」，後者意為「喚起；激起；使認識到；使意識到」。

Awake 的過去式可以是 awaked 或 awoke，而過去分詞可以是 awaked 或 awoken，但通常使用 awoke 和 awoken：The thunder awoke me. (雷聲把我驚醒了)；He awoke to the sound of birds chirping. (他被啁啾的鳥叫聲叫醒了)；I awoke to find myself alone. (我一覺醒來發現只有自己一個人)；His father tried to awake him to a sense of duty. (他父親試圖使他認識到自己的責任)；We must awake to our responsibilities. (我們一定要認識到自己的職責)。awaken 是個規則動詞 (awaken, awakened, awakened)：I was awakened by their shouts. (我被他們的喊叫聲吵醒)；He awakened her at six. (他在六點時叫醒她)；He has awakened to new challenges. (他已意識到新的挑戰)；She awakened at six. (她六點鐘醒來)。

Wake 的過去式可以是 waked 或 woke，而過去分詞可以是 waked 或 woken，但通常使用 woke 和 woken：She usually wakes (up) early. (她通常早起)；John woke to a quiet knocking on his door. (約翰被一陣輕輕的敲門聲給叫醒了)；The bad news finally woke the country to the danger of war. (壞消息傳來，終於使國人意識到即將發生戰爭的危險)。wake 後面經常接介系詞 up，是一個相當常用的片語動詞：I woke up at six this morning. (今天早晨我六點鐘醒來)；Please wake me up at 7:00. (請在七點鐘叫醒我)。waken是個規則動詞 (waken, wakened, wakened)：He wakened early that morning. (那天早晨他很早就醒了)；I was wakened by their shouts. (我被他們的喊叫聲吵醒)；All this wakened the local government to the need for safety precautions. (所有這些使當地政府認識到必須採取安全預防措施)。

一般而言，awake 和 awaken 用在比喻意思的情況比較多，而 wake 和 waken 用在字面意思的情況比較多。就使用頻率而言，awaken 比 awake 常用，而 wake 比 waken 常用。

除做動詞外，這四個字當中的 awake 還可當形容詞用，而 wake 還可當名詞用。awake 用做形容詞時意為「醒著的；認識到的，意識到的」，但不可用在名詞之前：I managed to stay awake long enough to watch the video. (我強忍著不睡看完了錄影帶)；I was already wide awake before the alarm went off. (鬧鐘還沒停，我就已完全醒了)；We are fully awake to the dangers of the situation. (我們充分意識到局勢的危險)。在上面的例句中，stay awake 意為「保持醒著的」，而 wide awake 意為「完全醒著的；頭腦清醒的」，它們都是頗為常見的片語。wake 用做名詞時意為「守夜；守靈；(船航行時留下的) 航跡，尾波，尾流」，通常用在 in the wake of 或 in sb’s/sth’s wake 中 — 這兩個片語意為「尾隨，緊跟在…後面；隨著…而來，作為…的結果」：The car left clouds of dust in its wake. (車子後面揚起一片塵土)；An inquiry has been set up in the wake of the crash. (墜機發生後，調查隨之展開)。

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Q：下列那一句才正確? A total of 300 passengers WAS killed in the plane crash. 或 A total of 300 passengers WERE killed in the plane crash.

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A：一般而言，「a total of + 複數可數名詞」是接複數動詞 (如 were)，而「the total of + 複數可數名詞」接單數動詞。所以，問題中正確的句子是 A total of 300 passengers WERE killed in the plane crash. (共有 300 名乘客在這起墜機事件中喪生)。

這項用法與 number 一樣。當 number 的前面是不定冠詞 a 時，它是接複數動詞，如 A number of well-qualified people have recently left the company. (一些非常稱職的人最近離開了這家公司)，在這句中，a number of = several，意為「一些，幾個」。若它的前面是定冠詞 the，則其後接單數動詞，如 The number of skilled workers is gradually increasing. (技術性工人的人數逐漸增加)，在這句中，number 意為「人數，數目」。

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flare out; flare up; flesh out; flick over; flick through; flip off; flip out; flip through; flog off; floor it

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flare out
突然發怒
He flared out when he saw the dreadful report.

flare up
(不好的事情) 突然爆發
The argument flared up when he was rude to them.

flesh * out +
為…補充細節或添加資料
The recent government report fleshed out the draft proposals.

flick over
快速翻頁；快速轉台 (轉換電視頻道)
She flicked over to see if the news had started.

flick through +
快速轉台 (轉換電視頻道)
I flicked through the channels to see if there was anything worth watching.

flick through +
快速翻閱某物
I flicked through the magazine and decided to buy it.

flip * off +
比中指
When the police were walking away, he flipped them off.

flip out
欣喜若狂
He flipped out when he won the final.

flip through +
快速翻閱 (書籍、雜誌等)；快速轉台 (轉換電視頻道)
I flipped through the latest issue of the magazine in the shop and decided to buy it.

flog * off +
廉價出售 (某物)
The council flogged off the land cheaply to a developer who had close links to a few of the councilors.

floor it
開快車；加足油門飆車
She floored it when the police arrived.

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