標籤: 形容詞

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out to lunch

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(形容詞) (行為或想法) 怪異的，瘋狂的。

  • That girl is really out to lunch. (那女孩很怪異)

(形容詞) 不注意的；心不在焉的。

  • The waitress didn’t bring us anything we ordered. She is completely out to lunch. (女服務生未送來我們所點的任何餐飲。她完全心不在焉)
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Q：(a) Most books (b) Most my books (c) Most of my books are in English. 這三句何者正確呢?

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A：Most 這個字可當形容詞和代名詞用，若為形容詞，其後直接接名詞，如 Most birds can fly. (大多數的鳥都會飛)，所以 (a) Most books are in English. (大部分的書都是英文書) 這句是對的。在這句中，名詞 books 並非指特定的書，如「我的書」、「這些書」、「那張桌子上的書」，而是泛指 (generic) 一般的書。

當 most 用作代名詞時，其後往往接介詞 of 再接特定或特指的 (specific) 名詞。所謂特指的名詞，就是名詞的前面加上 the, that, this, these, those 或所有格，如 my, his, their, Jack’s, Thomas’ 等等。所以 (c) Most of my books are in English. 也是正確的句子；換言之，(b) Most my books are in English. 這句是錯的，因為如果名詞是特指，most 後面的 of 不能省略。然而，如果名詞是泛指，則 most 後面就不能有 of，這就是上述 most 當形容詞用，後面直接接名詞的情況，所以 Most of books are in English. 也是錯的。

英文中這種兼具形容詞 (或限定詞) 和代名詞功能且用法與 most 完全相同的字或片語，還有 all (of), both (of), some (of), any (of), many (of), much (of), a few (of), a little (of), several (of), one (of), two (of), three (of) … 等等。例如：

  • Many students are going to study abroad. (正) (許多學生要出國留學)
    Many of my students are going to study abroad. (正) (我的學生當中有許多人要出國留學)
    Many my students are going to study abroad. (誤)
    Many of students are going to study abroad. (誤)
  • Some people are Chinese tourists. (正) (有些人是中國觀光客)
    Some of those people are Chinese tourists. (正) (那些人當中有些是中國觀光客)
    Some those people are Chinese tourists. (誤)
    Some of people are Chinese tourists. (誤)
  • Several windows were broken. (正) (有幾扇窗戶被砸破了)
    Several of the windows were broken. (正)
    Several the windows were broken. (誤)
    Several of windows were broken. (誤)

值得注意的是，當名詞為特指時，all 和 both 這兩個字後面的 of 可以省略，亦即它們後面的 of 可有可無。不過，若名詞為泛指，則其後同樣不可有 of。例如：

  • Almost all of my students are female. (正) (我的學生幾乎都是女生)
    Almost all my students are female. (正)
    All children deserve encouragement. (正) (所有的小孩都應得到鼓勵)
    All of children deserve encouragement. (誤)
  • I know both of his parents. (正) (我認識他的父母親)
    I know both his parents. (正)
    Both paintings are by the same artist. (正) (兩幅畫都是同一畫家畫的)
    Both of paintings are by the same artist. (誤)

最後要提的是，half 這個亦可當形容詞 (或限定詞) 和代名詞用的字，若接特指的名詞，其用法與 all 和 both 相同，亦即後面的 of 也是可有可無。例如：

  • Half of the children study Japanese. (正) (這些孩子當中有一半學日文)
    Half the children study Japanese. (正)
  • Nearly half of the employees complained of stress. (正) (近半數的員工抱怨壓力太大)
    Nearly half the employees complained of stress. (正)
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小心眼

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英文：petty (adj.)

說明：我們亦可用 narrow-minded 來表示相同的意思，指的都是一個人的氣量小、心胸狹窄。

例句：

  • Jessica has a petty mind. (潔西卡很小心眼)
    = Jessica is petty.
  • I can’t get along with those narrow-minded women in our company. (我跟我們公司那些小心眼的女人處不來)
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Q：The ground is soaking wet because it has been raining all night. 這句中的 soaking 是形容詞還是副詞呢?

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A：現在分詞 (V-ing) 和過去分詞 (V-ed － 對規則動詞而言) 皆可當形容詞用，分別叫做現在分詞形容詞和過去分詞形容詞。

一般而言，soaking 是當現在分詞形容詞用，但它還可用作副詞，主要是用來與 wet 構成 soaking wet 這個慣用語，意為「濕透的」(very/completely wet)。從文法觀點來看，由於 wet 是形容詞，只有副詞才能修飾形容詞，所以 soaking 在此用作副詞，殆無疑義。

英文中這種亦可當副詞用的現在分詞形容詞，其實不多，而且它們幾乎都是用來修飾某個特定形容詞，並與該形容詞形成固定搭配，如 soaking 和 wet。

目前筆者所能想到的可同時當形容詞和副詞用的現在分詞只有 5 + 1 個 (應該還有若干個，但為數不多)，後面這 “1” 個就是 fucking，意為「(形容詞) 該死的；(副詞) 非常地」，不過這個字在此僅點到為止，不做詳述。另外五個為 soaking、dripping、sopping、freezing 和 roaring，它們當副詞用時均意為「非常地；完全地」(very, completely)，其中 dripping 和 sopping 也是跟 wet 搭配，用來修飾 wet，意思同樣為「濕透的」；換言之，dripping wet、soaking wet 和 sopping wet 這三者無論用法和意思完全一樣。例如：

  • You’re dripping/soaking/sopping wet! (你渾身濕透了!)
  • The ground is dripping/soaking/sopping wet because it has been raining all night. (地面濕透了，因為整晚都在下雨)

至於 freezing，則與 cold 搭配，形成 freezing cold 這個慣用語，意為「冰冷的」。例如：

  • Your hands are freezing cold! (你的手冷冰冰的!)
  • I remember it was freezing cold that day. (我記得那天非常冷)

然而，由於 cold 亦可用作名詞，意為「寒冷」，此時 freezing 就不是副詞了，而是形容詞，修飾名詞 cold。例如：

  • All the delicate plants died last night in the freezing cold. (所有嬌嫩的植物昨晚都在天寒地凍中死了)
  • I always thought that I wouldn’t be able to stand the freezing cold and the boring darkness before I moved to Moscow. (在搬到莫斯科之前，我總認為自己不可能承受那麼刺骨的寒冷和無聊的黑暗)

最後要提的是 roaring，它跟 drunk 搭配來表示「爛醉如泥；酩酊大醉」(very drunk) 的意思，與另一慣用語 blind/dead drunk 同義。例如：

  • Paul came home roaring drunk last night. (保羅昨晚回家時爛醉如泥)
  • Melissa’s roaring drunk. (梅麗莎喝得酩酊大醉)