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The likes of, the like of

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幾乎所有字典都將 the likes of 和 the like of 視為同義的片語 (意為「…樣的人或物」)，但它們的語意其實並不完全相同。the likes of 有兩個意思：一為正面、恭維的意思，如 I was seated with the likes of two deans and a provost — VIPs all. (我跟兩位院長和一位教務長 – 皆為重要人物 – 這樣的人坐在一起)；另一為貶抑、輕蔑的意思，如 I won’t associate with the likes of him. (我不會結交像他這樣的人)，I doubt they’d give one of those jobs to the likes of us. (我懷疑他們會把那其中一份工作給我們這樣的人)。從上面的例句似乎可以看出，the likes of 後面若接有一定社會地位或受人敬重的人，它表示的是正面的意思，但若接代名詞當受詞，則它是個貶義之詞。

與 the likes of 後面可以接單數或複數名詞或代名詞不同的是，the like of 後面通常只接單數名詞或代名詞當受詞，而且無論是接名詞或代名詞都沒有貶低、輕蔑的意思，甚至是在表示地位、能力等方面相同的意思，如 Will we ever see the like of Mozart again? (我們還會再見到莫札特那樣的天才嗎?)，I don’t know where you’d find the like of him. (我不知道你要到哪裡才能找到能與他匹敵的人了)；再者，the like of someone/something 這個慣用語更常被寫成 someone’s/something’s like，所以上句更常被寫成 I don’t know where you’d find his like.。someone’s/something’s like 意為「能與某人匹敵者/能與某物相比的東西」。然而，the likes of someone/something 卻不能寫成 someone’s/something’s likes，因為 someone’s likes and dislikes 的意思是「某人的好惡」，亦即某人喜歡和不喜歡的事物。

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Possessed

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Possessed 後面通常接介系詞 of, by 或 with。這個過去分詞形容詞與 of 連用時意為「擁有」(have)：She was possessed of a large estate. (他過去擁有許多資產)；That child is possessed of a sharp tongue. (那個小孩說話很刻薄)。possessed 和 of 之間可插入反身代名詞，但此時意為「弄到；找到」(get hold of)：She possessed herself of her daughter’s diary. (她自己找到她女兒的日記)。possessed 與 by 或 with 連用時意為「瘋狂的；著魔的；鬼迷心竅的」：The prosecutor described him as a man possessed by (or with) an urge to kill. (檢察官形容他是個有瘋狂的殺人衝動的男子)。

必須注意的是，雖然 possessed 是 possess (擁有，持有) 的過去分詞，但在 He was possessed by an urge to kiss her. (他有一種難以自持的衝動想要吻她) 這樣的句子中，be possessed by 並非 possess 的被動結構，因為 possess 雖是及物動詞但卻不能用於被動態。例如，我們可以說 The criminal possessed three guns. (這罪犯擁有三把槍)，但卻不能說 Three guns were possessed by the criminal.。英文中還有一些及物動詞跟 possess 一樣是沒有被動態的，如 lack (缺乏)、suit (適合)、last (維持)、cost (花費) 等。筆者在「網路翻譯家文法問題與解答第4集第3篇」單元中有針對這問題做了頗為詳盡的說明，有興趣的網友可參閱之。

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set in; set off; set out; set up; settle down; settle for; settle in

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set in
(壞天氣或不好的季節) 開始，來臨
Winter has set in; it’s started snowing.

set * off +
使爆炸，點燃
Terrorists set off a car bomb in the city centre last night. Fortunately, no one was hurt or killed.

set * off +
觸發 (警報)；引起 (機械反應)
The smoke set the fire alarm off.

set off
出發，啟程，動身
We set off for work at seven-thirty.

set * off +
抵銷 (債務)，使平衡
The company set off its overseas debts against its profits at home.

set * out +
陳列，呈現，展示
The figures are set out in the council’s annual report.

set out
動身，啟程，出發
The explorers set out for the South Pole yesterday morning.

set * up
安排男女見面認識
My mom set me up with her friend’s son.

set * up
陷害
I don’t think he killed those men. Somebody set him up.

set up +
安排 (約會，會議，會面等)
I set up an appointment with my doctor at 3:30 this afternoon.

set * up +
安裝 (軟體、設備等)
The technician set up the computer network perfectly.

set * up +
設立，開辦，創辦，創立 (公司，組織，機構等)
They set up a dot com company, floated it a couple of years later on the Stock Exchange and made an absolute fortune.

settle down
定居，成家，安定下來，安下心來
After years of partying and drinking, she finally got married and settled down.

settle for +
勉強接受…，勉強做…，將就著同意…
We were upset not to win and had to settle for the second prize.

settle in
(使) 習慣於…；(使) 適應於…
It took him a while to settle in when he moved to Japan.

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

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Audience, hearers, listeners, readers, spectators, viewers

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Audience 與標題中的其他複數名詞都有明確的意思，指的皆是能聽和能看的人，即聽眾和觀眾。嚴格來說，audience 由於字首 audi- 意為「聲音」，因此跟 hearers 和 listeners 一樣，應僅能指聽者、聽眾，但事實上 audiences 能聽能看，亦即既是聽眾也是觀眾，甚至亦可用來指讀者。那些能看的人，即觀眾或讀者，是 spectators, viewers 或 readers。但戲劇、電影或音樂表演的 spectators 也能聽，而現今的電視觀眾 (television viewers) 同樣也是看和聽兼而有之。

總結之，audience 可指觀眾 (電影、電視等)、聽眾 (音樂表演等) 和讀者 (書報等)；hearers 和 listeners 僅指聽者、聽眾；readers 僅指讀者；spectators 指「看和聽兼而有之」的觀眾 (以電影、音樂表演為主)；viewers 同樣指「看和聽兼而有之」的觀眾、收視者 (以電視為主)。除了需要最精確用字的場合外，這些相關字之間大致上是可以互換的。總之，儘可能用字精確，但也別因噎廢食或過份挑剔而犧牲了效率和速度，那就划不來了。

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Enormity, enormousness

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這兩個字都是形容詞 enormous (意為「巨大的，龐大的」) 的名詞。enormousness 意為「巨大，極大，龐大」，但 enormity 正處於重大的語意改變中，所以在使用這個字時必須格外小心。長久以來，enormity 除了意為「(尺寸、規模等) 巨大，龐大」之外，一直都是以「窮兇惡極；兇暴，兇殘；滔天大罪」(monstrousness, great wickedness) 為主要意思，如 The enormity of his crimes shocked everyone. (他罪行的兇殘令每個人都震驚)。

然而，現今無論在言語或書面的應用，enormity 都越來越常被用來僅表示尺寸、規模等的巨大、龐大 (與 enormousness 同義)，而不再用來表示極惡、兇暴、兇殘、罪行的意思。儘管有些人仍不接受此一新意，認為此項用法是錯誤的，但這用法卻越來越普遍，而且現在所有字典都有收錄這意思。筆者的建議是，藉由上下文來明確表達 enormity 的真正意思，同時注意年紀較大或保守的人士仍認為 enormity 是個貶義之詞。

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Former, latter

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若干人士堅稱，the former (前者) 和 the latter (後者) 這兩個片語只能用來分別指兩項事物的第一項和第二項或分別指兩個人的第一個和第二個，如 Here are Tom and David; the former is my classmate and the latter my brother. (這是湯姆和大衛；前者是我的同學，後者是我的兄弟)。但即使是一些經常要求須用 the last 來指第三項 (或第三個) 或更多項的正式寫作，有時亦容許 the latter 被用來指三項或多項事物中最後或最近提到的一項或數項：The catcher, two infielders, and the right fielder all missed the team bus, and by game time, only the latter had reached the ballpark. (捕手，兩名內野手以及右外野手均未搭上隊車，而到了比賽時間，僅後者趕到球場) – 這裡的「後者」是指右外野手；正確的文法應把 the latter 改為 the last。

在非正式寫作和口語中，the former 和 the latter 不時被用來指三項或多項事物或三個或多個人，但這往往使句子顯得不得體：We sat around the table—Mary, Lisa, and the young cousins and I—and the former regaled us with stories about her trip. (我們圍桌而坐 – 瑪麗，麗莎以及表弟妹和我 – 前者跟我們分享她旅行的故事) — 這裡的「前者」是指瑪麗。

我們可以輕易地在許多著名作家的作品中發現他們違反這項規則，但由於 former 和 latter 是比較級形容詞，當它們被用來列舉三項或三項以上的事物或三個或三個以上的人時，許多讀者會感到不舒服或嗤之以鼻，就像他們對錯用比較級的句子感到不屑一樣；錯用比較級的句子所在多有，如 Her boys are 7, 9, and 13; only the younger was born in Taipei. (她的兒子分別是7、9和13歲，但只有年紀較小的那個是在台北出生) – 三者或三者以上的比較要用最高級，所以 the younger 應改為 the youngest (年紀最小的)。最後要提的是，former 通常與字首 ex- 同義，意為「以前的」，如the former Secretary of State (前國務卿)，a former champion (前冠軍)。

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Hunting, shooting

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英國人對「打獵，狩獵」有兩種說法，如果打獵的目標 (即獵物) 是動物，就叫做 hunting，如果獵物是鳥類，則叫做 shooting。大多數美國人都把所有打獵一概叫做 hunting，而美國人的 shooting 一般都是指「打靶；射擊練習」，通常以紙靶為目標。不過，英美的「靶場；射擊練習場」都叫做 shooting gallery，但在美國俚語中，shooting gallery 是指「毒品注射場所」。至於 shooting star 中的 shooting 可就與打靶或射擊無關；這片語意為「流星」(meteor, meteorite)，可能是子彈射出的速度和流星行進的速度都很快的關係。

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run after; run against; run along; run in; run into; run on

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run after +
追趕，追逐 (某人，某物)
The police ran after the guy who’d stolen it, but he was too fast for them.

run after +
追求 (異性)
He was running after her for ages but never managed to get a date.

run against +
(美) 與 (某人) 在競選中角逐
Gore ran against Bush in the 2000 elections in the U.S.A.

run against +
反對
Opinion is running against his policies and he has very little support.

run along
走開，離開 (常用作祈使句)
They kept disturbing him, so he told them to run along and leave him in peace.
Run along, I’m busy now.

run * in +
逮捕；把 (某人) 帶回警局偵訊
They ran him in last night.

run * in +
(小心地) 駕駛新車 (以免損壞引擎)
She ran the car in for a thousand miles.

run in
偶然造訪
We ran in and chatted for an hour.

run * in +
把 (某物) 插入 (某物)
He ran a graph in next to the text.

run into +
不期而遇；偶然碰見
I ran into my English teacher at the movies last night. She’s so nice!

run into +
花費；累計達到 (某金額、數量)
The project has run into millions of dollars without any prospect of a return on this investment.

run on +
靠…運轉 、運行
The van runs on diesel.

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

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As well as

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As well as 可當附屬連接詞和介系詞用，當連接詞時，它是標準英語，意為「和…一樣」：You know as well as I that he’s a fool. (你和我一樣都知道他是個笨蛋)；Do your homework as well as you can. (盡你所能把家庭作業做好)。當介系詞用時，意為「除…之外；而且，也，和」(in addition to)：He received a new car, as well as several smaller gifts. (他收到一部新車和數個較小的禮物 / 除了數個較小的禮物，他還收到一部新車)。然而，許多起初看似介系詞的用法其實是標準的附屬連接詞 (下句 as well as 後面沒有受詞)：Visitors came from Canada and the United States, as well as from Europe and the Near East. (遊客來自加拿大和美國，而且也來自近東) – 近東通常指地中海東部沿岸地區，包括非洲東北部和亞洲西南部，有時還包括巴爾幹半島 (資料來源：大英百科)。

當 as well as 使句子的主詞變成複合主詞 – 所以要使用複數動詞 – 時，或者當 as well as 及其受詞被語調或逗點隔開，因此使第二部分成為不影響主動詞一致的插入語句時，這片語就會發生用法上的問題：Their seven-foot center as well as their huge forwards were simply too tall for our average-sized players. (他們七呎高的中鋒以及人高馬大的前鋒對我們一般身材的球員來說簡直太高了)；Their seven-foot center, as well as their huge forwards, was simply too tall for our average-sized players. (除了人高馬大的前鋒外，他們七呎高的中鋒對我們一般身材的球員來說簡直太高了)。這兩種主動詞一致都是合乎語法的正規英語，但第二個例句顯然不得體 – 英文中，與 as well as 插入語句用法和意思相似的字詞還有 along with, together with 和 plus 等。

或許比上面任何一個例句都要來得好的句子就是捨棄 as well as 而改採不同的寫法：Their center was too tall, and so were [as were] their forwards. (他們的中鋒太高，而他們的前鋒也是)。請務必確定語調或標點符號能反映你所要表達的方式並據此確定主詞是單數還是複數。此外，當字面上的意思可能出現模稜兩可的情況時，as well as 也最好不用，如 Mark plays bowling as well as Peter. 這句可能意為「馬克和彼得都打保齡球」，但也可能意為「馬克和彼得的保齡球打得一樣好」。

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Teach school

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一些文法學者一直反對當及物動詞用的 teach 後接學習機構作受詞，如 Mr. Liu teaches grade school. (劉先生在小學教書)。但 teach 的這項用法自17世紀以來就已經存在且在各個層面都非常廣泛使用，所以我們沒有理由不這麼用。

因此，to teach school 這個美式英語的慣用語顯然地現在是標準或正規英語，意為「教書；當老師」，相當於 to teach in a school。同樣地，teach 與其他直接受詞 (如 class, English, twenty students, a topic, a lesson 等) 的組合也是正規英語，如 to teach English to a boy (= to teach a boy English) – 由此可知，teach 可以接雙受詞。teach 亦可當不及物動詞用：He taught for forty years. (他教了40年的書)；He teaches in Taichung. (他在台中教書)。