縮寫、面試邀請 - 古德明

縮寫、面試邀請 - 古德明

問:警察供詞提到被通緝者,一般稱為WP(wanted person),那WP之前要不要用冠詞(article)?又CP(commissioner of police警務處長)、DC(district commander區指揮官)等,要冠以the嗎?
答:根據慣例,逐個字母讀出的縮寫(initialism),用不用冠詞,和全寫相同;當作一個字讀出的簡寫(acronym),則和全寫不同:全寫用the,簡寫不用,例如:(1)The YMCA / The Young Men's Christian Association was established in the 1840s(基督教青年會是一八四○年代創立的)。(2)Stocks traded through NASDAQ / the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations are mainly in the technology sector(經納斯達克自動報價系統買賣的股票,多屬科技行業)。
WP、CP、DC等,都是逐個字母讀出,冠詞應和全寫相同,例如:The CP proudly declared that he had no conscience to speak of(警務處長傲然宣佈,他沒有什麼良心可言)。
問:某政府部門的面試邀請函說:A volunteer of the group will be invited to draw a number card. The candidate assigned with that number would be the first one to start。 為什麼第一句用will而第二句用would?
答,那兩句是說:「我們將邀面試者之中的一人,抽取一張有號碼的卡紙,面試者誰的號碼和卡上號碼相同,即由他開始。」這兩句說的,都是既定的規例,兩句都應用will。Would一般用來令語氣較為委婉,卻不應用於讀者示下的第二句。