難忘的一幕、有些東西 - 古德明

2012年08月04日 - 蘋果 

問：貴欄說過，which可以指前面整個子句（clause）所說的事。That也可以這樣用嗎？

答：That當然不可以這樣用。例如He did not know the answer, which was surprising（他不知道答案，那很奇怪）一語，which不可用that取代。

讀者提出上述問題，是因為在一本教英文的書裏看到以下句子，誤以為句中的that字等於which：I was so surprised to see Chief Executive Tsang Yam-kuen pick up a banana thrown at him by Longhair Leung Kwok-hung and then throw it back at Longhair that it will always be etched in my memory（我見到行政長官曾蔭權拾起長毛梁國雄擲向他的香蕉，回擲長毛。這一幕令我深感詫異，留在心裏，永不磨滅）。

句中的that，其實是和so連用，即I was so surprised that...，只是原句的so和that相隔實在太遠，而it will always be etched的it字指什麼，並不清楚。句子改寫一下，也許會好一點：I was so surprised to see Chief Executive Tsang Yam-kuen pick up the banana Longhair Leung Kwok-hung threw at him and throw it back that the scene will forever be etched in my memory。

問：Something和some things有什麼分別？

答：Something是「某種東西」，是單數名詞，沒有複數形式；some things則指「幾種東西」，例如：

（1）She left something for you（她留下一件東西給你）。

（2）Some things are better left unsaid（有些事情最好不要說）。