問:我教兒子在英文作業裏寫in Thursday evening(星期四晚上),但他老師改in為on。In the evening和on the evening有什麼分別?
答:Evening和morning(上午)、afternoon(下午)等一樣,可用in或on帶出,但意思有點不同。假如是說某一天的上午、下午、晚上等,用on;但假如只是說上午、下午、晚上等,則用in,例如:(1)On one hot afternoon, I went for a swim(一個炎熱的下午,我去游泳)。(2)The library was closed on Wednesday afternoon / on the afternoon of 6 April(星期三下午/四月六日下午,圖書館沒有開門)。(3)What do you usually do in the afternoon?(你下午通常會做些什麼?)(4)I will be back at about two o'clock in the afternoon(下午兩點鐘左右,我就會回來)。留意例句二on the afternoon of 6 April改為in the afternoon on 6 April也可以。又this、that、every、tomorrow、yesterday等字帶出的morning、afternoon和evening,都不用加in或on,例如:I saw him yesterday afternoon(昨天下午我見到他)。
問:Expecting a baby旣可解作「希望生孩子」,也可解作「懷孕」,然則怎麼知道是那個意思?
答:Expecting a baby只可解作「懷孕」或「預期孩子將出世」,不可解作「希望懷孕」。請比較以下兩句:(1)She is expecting a baby girl in September(她預期會在九月誕下女嬰)。(2)She wants to be a mother more than anything else(她最想生兒育女)。