問:讀報見到以下一句:He said no teachers or students were hurt(他說師生都沒有受傷)。句中的no ... or改為neither ... nor,會不會好一點?
答:No teachers or students是說「師生都沒有」,側重的是「沒有人受傷」,絕對不必改用neither ... nor。Neither ... nor側重的是「兩者都不」或「兩者都沒有」,例如:Neither teachers nor students should forget that the end of education is to promote a just society(教師、學生都不應忘記,教育旨在建設公平的社會)。這一句就不宜改用no ... or。
問:聽過英國人用some pants二字說「褲子」,然則可不可以說:Peter was dressed in a red T-shirt, some white socks, and some blue pants(彼得身穿紅色T恤,白色襪子,藍色長褲)?
答:讀者示下那一句的兩個some字,改為a pair of會好一點,但最好還是刪去。習慣用複數形式的pants / trousers、socks等字,往往不必用some、a pair of等量詞,例如《朗文當代高級英漢雙解詞典》pants條有以下一句:She was wearing dark blue pants and a white sweater(她身穿深藍色長褲、白色毛衣)。
Some pants假如不是說「一些」而是「一條」長褲,那麼,some多是「某種」的意思,和for some reason(由於某個原因)的some相同,例如:I told the little boy to get dressed in some pants(我叫那小男孩去找條褲穿)。