海濱看煙花、我或他 - 古德明

海濱看煙花、我或他 - 古德明

問:報上讀到以下一句:The Tsim Sha Tsui promenade is the best place to watch the Lunar New Year fire works(尖沙咀海濱花園,是觀看農曆新年煙花的最好地方)。這一句文法正確嗎?「地方」(place)可以「看」(watch)東西嗎?
答:The best place to watch等於the best place for us to watch,文法當然沒有錯,英文也常見類似的說法,例如:(1)Humour is often a good weapon to deal with unpleasant situations(詼諧往往是應付不愉快場合的好辦法)。(2)What is the best thing to do?(怎麼辦最好?)。(3)The Peak is the best place to take in the spectacular views of Victoria Harbour(山頂是欣賞維多利亞海港壯麗景色的最好地方)。
問:以下一句,應用pay還是pays?──Either he or I pays / pay for the purchases(買東西,付錢的不是他,就是我)。
答:這一句宜用pay。一句之中,假如相連的兩個主詞(subject)須配不同形式的同一動詞,則該動詞所用形式,應與最接近的主詞相匹,這叫做principle of proximity(近者為準原則),例如:Neither my parents nor my daughter has been to Paris / Neither my daughter nor my parents have been to Paris(我父母、女兒,都沒有去過巴黎)。也有人認為,以上那樣的句子,最好改寫如下:(1)Either he pays for the purchases, or I do。(2)My parents have not been to Paris, nor has my daughter。