從歐巴瑪的就職演說想起— 漫談連接詞AND的使用

從歐巴瑪的就職演說想起— 漫談連接詞AND的使用

- 鄭德音 -

“…At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears, and true to our founding documents…”

− 2009年歐巴瑪總統就職演說

2009年一月二十日﹐歐巴瑪就任美國第四十四任總統。由於他的族裔背景﹐這一天無疑成為美國歷史上重要的一刻: 史無前例的非裔總統﹐面對史無前例的全球性金融危機﹐以及美國在國際社會中角色的劇變﹐歐巴瑪的就任﹐不但深具歷史意義﹐還肩負著挽回經濟頹勢﹐重拾美國人自信心的重責大任。當天的就職演說也就格外引人注目。果不其然﹐歐的就職演說以年輕幕僚捉刀﹐有年輕人的思維與活力﹐圖打破舊官僚老大暮氣﹐為華府政局注入新血的用意皎然可見﹐頗有當年甘乃迪以最年輕總統入主白宮的氣勢。我當天一早就上網取得演說文﹐但仔細拜讀之餘﹐卻不免大失所望。

我失望的不是演說內容﹐因為我既非民主黨﹐也非共和黨﹐也從來弄不清這兩者的區別(您別笑我呆)。我注意到的是英文寫作。細讀全文﹐文字誤用之處不少﹐除了砸掉歐巴瑪本人演說高手的招牌﹐還透露出美國人英文寫作的隱憂。本文開頭所引取自歐的演說文的句子﹐ 便屬連接詞使用的錯誤。

小時候學英文﹐最先學到的文法即所謂的八大詞類。這八類分別是:名詞﹐代名詞﹐動詞﹐形容詞﹐副詞﹐介系詞﹐連接詞﹐感嘆詞。每本文法書都諄諄教誨﹐動詞最難﹐介系詞最麻煩﹐名詞單複數不勝其繁﹐代名詞的詞格須弄清楚﹐把這些詞類融會貫通﹐則探驪得珠﹐ 過此以往﹐再無險路。一般人從來沒擔心過連接詞。誰不會使用連接詞? 顧名思義﹐連接詞就是用來連接字眼的字詞。小學生寫文章﹐最擅長連接詞:

My dad asked me to go to the store on my way to school, and so I dressed quickly and ate my breakfast and after breakfast I started to school and after walking two blocks I forgot what I was supposed to get and so I had to go home and I asked my dad again and he was mad at me.

這段話任誰讀了都會說: "不錯﹐不錯﹐但也不好﹐不好。"連接詞為什麼容易誤用? 這要先從連接詞的種類說起: 連接詞有兩類: 對等連接詞和從屬連接詞。對等連接詞只能用來連接文法上詞類相當的字﹐片語﹐或子句。好比兩牛共用一軛﹐這兩頭牛需得對等相應﹐以免失去平衡。名詞﹐動詞﹐形容詞﹐副詞﹐介系詞片語﹐動名詞﹐分詞片語﹐子句等等﹐只要有對等的詞類﹐就可以用連接詞來連接。這原則夠簡單﹐但說易行難﹐寫作時極易出錯﹐所以第一步﹐要先養成對連接詞使用的敏感度﹐則下筆時便能避免錯誤。

現舉一則廣告詞為例:

For your many patients

Who should avoid aspirin...

And for when they catch colds.

And要連接什麼? 應是要連接兩個For所引導的介系詞片語。但細看這兩個介系詞片語不對等﹐也就是沒有平衡結構。For your many patients 中﹐For 後接的是受格名詞 your many patients,第二個介系詞片語中﹐for後面卻接的是子句 when they catch colds。這兩個不同性質的片語不能用AND來連接。原句如果修改成:

For your many patients

Who should avoid aspirin

And for those

Who catch colds.

則AND 連接的兩個介系詞片語﹐都有受格名詞﹐兩相平衡﹐正確無誤。下面的例句也有相同問題:

“He had fallen in love with and married a girl who had worked in a department store.”

And要連接什麼? 如果AND 要連接 had fallen 和 married 這兩個動詞﹐又產生不平衡的問題。因為had fallen 是不及物動詞﹐不需要受詞﹐但為完成句意﹐後面接了個介系詞片語in love with; married 則是個及物動詞﹐其受詞為girl。如照原文﹐girl 既要擔任介系詞片語的受格作用﹐又要擔任及物動詞的受格角色﹐違反英文語法中一字不做兩用的基本原則。如果原句改為: “He had fallen in love with a girl who had worked in a department and had married her.” 則AND連接了兩個過去完成式的動詞had fallen 和 had married. 兩相平衡﹐正確無誤。

最後再舉一個類似的錯誤﹐以回到文章開頭的歐巴瑪演說稿中的連接詞錯誤。

Many of the contributions deal with gastrointestinal epithelium because of the ease with which it can be studied in the laboratory and also its inherently high replication rate.

看完這個句子﹐第一個想到的當然是: AND要連接什麼? AND 要連接的是兩個名詞: ease and rate. "because of the ease" AND "[because of the] inherently high replication rate" 這個句子結構上並無不對﹐問題在這兩個由AND連接的名詞相隔太遠﹐其平衡對應感變得薄弱﹐故不屬佳作。如原文改為:

Many of the contributions deal with gastrointestinal epithelium because it has inherently high replication rate and can be readily studied in the laboratory. 則AND清楚地看出連接 has 和 can be studied 這兩個現在簡單式動詞﹐平衡無誤。

現在回頭來看看歐巴瑪的演說文中那一句引文出了什麼問題? 原來英文連接詞中還有第三類﹐ 叫Correlative Conjunction, 都是由兩個詞語相配對而成。比較常見的有: not only...but (also)..., neither...nor, either...or, both...and...等等。這類連接詞性質和對等連接詞相似﹐都要求接在第一個字後面的詞類﹐必須和接在第二個字的詞類相對應﹐否則便違反行文規則。比方說: not only educational, but also inspirational 尚可,寫成not only educational, but also an inspiration 則不可。歐文中便用了not simply(A)...but (B)...這樣的句型。我們看看這原文中的A 和B 分別是:

“... not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears...”

not simply後面接的是介系詞片語because of those in high office,但可惜but後面竟然接上了從屬連接詞because所引導的副詞子句because We the People have remained...,這個錯誤是極普通常見的高中英文舛誤﹐出現在具有歷史意義的重要演說中﹐令人為歐巴瑪失去留下一篇歷史性經典演說的機會扼腕!

原文如果改為: “... not simply because those in high office have the skill or vision, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebears...”

縱不見得高明多少, 起碼無可挑剔。

有人也許會說﹐吹毛求疵, 咬文嚼字﹐屬飣餖腐儒之道﹐何須著意太深? 我想想也有道理﹐不過倉頡造字﹐也曾驚天地泣鬼神﹐文字雖小道﹐亦有可觀者﹐著意與否﹐只能任人選擇。