■語言是樹，字彙是葉，文法是枝幹

English is a complicated language. It may seem good enough to use English vocabulary words with Chinese grammar, but there is a big problem with this. Grammar is the trunk of the tree of any language. Vo-cabulary is like many leaves on the outside. Without the trunk, all of the leaves fall.

英文是一種複雜的語言。說、寫英文時，你是用英文字詞搭配中文文法嗎？這方法看似行得通，卻有很大的問題。不管是哪一種語言，如果語言是樹，文法就是樹幹，字彙則是外表的樹葉。樹木沒了枝幹，所有的葉子都會凋謝。

■母語人士也頭痛

Even native English speakers have a tough time with the language. There are some very tricky words that are easy to mix up. ‘Fewer’ versus ‘less’, ‘everyday’ versus ‘ e v e r y day’, ‘lay’ versus ‘lie’—these confuse everyone. Ac¬cording to a survey of US students in grades 5-12, only about 30 percent could find the subject of a sentence. English is really hard!

即使是英語母語人士，對英文也很頭痛。有些英文單字很搞怪，容易混淆。例如，“fewer”相對於 “less”，“everyday”相對於“every day”，以及“lay”相對於“lie”這些很容易讓人搞混。根據最近一項針對美國小學5 至12 年級學生所做的調查，只有3 成的人找得到句子裡的主詞。可見英文有多難！

■究竟哪裡不一樣？

例1：fewer vs. less

When talking about things you can count, like pens or dogs, we use ‘fewer.’ For things we can’t count, like water or time, we use ‘less’.

形容東西很少時，如果談到的是「可數」的東西，例如pens （數枝原子筆）、dogs（數隻狗）等，我們應該要用“fewer”。如果是「不可數」的東西，例如water（水）、time（時間）等， 我們應該要用“less”。

例2：everyday vs. every day

‘Everyday’ means that something is normal or regular and hap¬pens on a daily basis. You might have everyday chores. ‘Every day’ means counting each day. I wake up at 8 o’clock every day.

針對每日常態性、規律性發生的事，我們會用兩個字寫在一起的“everyday”來形容這件事，例如，你可能會有“everyday chore”( 每天要做的家事) 要做。“every day”則是表示事情或動作日復一日的持續發生，例如，你每天都在早上8 點起牀，英文的說法是“I wake up at 8 o’clock every day.”。

■別讓主詞消失

In Chinese grammar, it’s okay to leave out the subject of a sen¬tence. That’s not so in English. Don’t say, “Have many fun rides.” Say, “There are many fun rides.” Also, learn how to change English verbs. Don’t say, “I go to the store last Saturday.” Say, “I went to the store.”

每種語言都有自己的文法。在中文文法裡，句子的主詞有時可以省略不提，但英文不能這樣子說。例如，你去遊樂園玩， 看到雲霄飛車、摩天輪等很多好玩的遊樂設施，你不可以用中文的文法，直接說成“Have many fun rides.”正確的英文句子是“There are many fun rides.”（遊樂園裡「存在著」很多好玩的遊樂設施）。再者，你必須學會英文裡的動詞變化， 例如，如要表示「上週六」你去了一趟商店，你不可以說“I go to the store last Saturday.”你必須把“go”換成過去式， 說“I went to the store.”。

■「延展造句」練習作文

It can be difficult to write clearly if we focus on every little grammar rule. Instead, try to learn a sentence pattern. For exam¬ple, I eat apples (subject-verb-object). Learn new words to add : eat apples every day. hen add some adjectives to make it inter¬esting : I eat red apples every day.

如果針對每個文法細節吹毛求疵，我們會很難寫出詞義清晰的英文作文。與其這樣，我們不妨多學一些「句型」，用「延展造句」的方式來練習。例如“I eat apples.”（我喫蘋果）， 這個句子裡有主詞（I）、動詞（eat）、受詞（apples）。接下來，把你學到的新單字加進句子裡。例如，我們剛剛談到 “every day”跟“everyday”的不同，你可試著把句子寫成 “I eat apples every day.”（我『每天』喫蘋果。）你還可以加入一些形容詞，讓句子更豐富，例如“I eat red apples every day.”（我每天喫『紅色的』蘋果。）