最近幾個月是香港的暑假和開學時間，FB上有很多英文補習廣告，特別是小學生的，正所謂「贏在起跑線」嘛。但我看了幾個這樣的廣告後，發覺香港的英文老師水平真的很差，其中一個教學生時竟然舉了I
will love you tomorrow這樣的例句？！這樣的老師在香港真的很多，他們根本可以說不懂英文，政府在這方面到底有沒有監管？
近一、二個月我在FB寫了好幾篇文章批評香港英文教師水平低落，特別是在tense的運用，早前我又看到一個女英文教師在FB的有聲廣告，相信你們很多人都會見過這個廣告。我之前已指出過此人教錯了just now這個片語。今次這個女人又是教tense，同樣犯了一些基本概念的錯誤，我真不知她們做學生時是怎樣學英文的。她說：「在英文中，你不能一見一些time marker就斷定必定是用某種時態，如見到today這字不一定用現在式。」她這說法是對的。但跟著她繼續說：「不過，卻有二個例外情況，就是見到yesterday必定用過去式；而見到tomorrow則要用將來式，不能用現在式。」
這是一條很好的語文基準試題目。考基準試，我根本不用考你作文，出二、三條這樣的問題便可知你的文法知識和語文能力。要答這條題目，你說易也得，說難也可以，但可笑的是這位女老師連基本理論都未搞清楚。首先，我要問yesterday和tomorrow屬於什麼詞類？這二個字可以是時間副詞或名詞，有時甚至可以是形容詞。Adverb of time是yesterday和tomorrow這二個字的最常見用法，作時間副詞時，yesterday是說過去的事，一般會跟past tense連用，正如past
tense的第一大戒條是有明確過去時間時，句子要用past tense。就這點而言，這個女老師沒說錯，但留意這只適用在一般情況下。
跟著有關tomorrow的用法，那個女老師就錯得很利害了。我前幾天上Youtube看看裡面中國人教tense的短片，我留意到一點，就是說perfect tense的人很多，但說future tense的卻很少。future tense少人說是因為future
tense相對簡單，就是shall/will
+ verb唄！事實上，在70、80年代時，老師或書上教的將來式都是I/We + shall，they/you/he/she/it + will，然後再加一個bare infinitive。
這樣教本來沒錯，但你們有否想過「future tense」跟「說future的tense」其實完全是兩回事，但香港的大部份英文老師和學生卻一直誤以為說將來只能用future tense，殊不知這只是其中一種用法已矣。我在三年多前一篇說future tense的文章中已解釋過，說將來的事，shall/will + verb並不是唯一的說法。所以如果妳作為一個英文老師，但仍然以為說將來的事只能用shall/will + verb，那妳大可以執包袱返屋企冬眠了。
如果一見有tomorrow就只能用future
tense，那為什麼字典會有這麼多例外？
She is giving
a presentation at tomorrow's meeting.
(MWALD)
Is it supposed
to rain tomorrow? (MWALD)
He has an
interview tomorrow.
(MWALD)
Tomorrow we're
going fishing. (MWALD)
I'm having dinner with Rachel tomorrow night.(CALD)
What is education going to look like tomorrow? (Cobuild)
The government is
expected to announce a national day
of mourning tomorrow.
Times, Sunday Times (2016) (Cobuild)
Are you going back home tomorrow?(MED)
They’re arriving tomorrow morning. (MED)
Terry’s new job
starts a week tomorrow. (LDOCE)
Tomorrow is Christmas Day. (Cobuild)
The statistics suggest that
tomorrow's match should
be one for the purist.
Times, Sunday Times (2016) (Cobuild)
These students are
the leaders of
tomorrow. (MED)
People who think the environment is yesterday’s news are wrong. (MED)
Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny. (dictionary.com)
It’s
our duty to make sure that their future is better than their past, and that
their tomorrows are better than their yesterdays.(dictionary.com)
Tomorrow is a school day. (MWALD)
Today is Tuesday, so tomorrow is Wednesday.(OALD)
I want it done by tomorrow. (OALD)
We make sacrifices now to give our children a better tomorrow. (CALD)
Today's problem child may be tomorrow's criminal. (CALD)
What's on your agenda for tomorrow? (Cobuild)
那個老師說不能用現在式只顯示其無知！
跟著下面的tomorrow例句又變了用present
perfect tense，這又是什麼因由？
I've got to get
this essay finished by
tomorrow. (CALD)
A meeting has been scheduled for tomorrow. (OALD)
Tomorrow’s meeting has been postponed. (CALD)
I’ve arranged to see Rachel tomorrow morning. (CALD)
It's a quiet one
as we've got another big day
tomorrow.
The Sun (2016) (Cobuild)
最後，我甚至在朗文的語料庫中找到幾句用past tense的tomorrow例句：
Miguel Rafaelo
could fire her tomorrow. (LDOCE)
I could be back in
the city by tomorrow night. (LDOCE)
Today I decided that I would organize a little party tomorrow night. (LDOCE)
而且，不單是tomorrow，下面這些yesterday例句用的也不是past
tense啊，這位女老師又能解釋嗎？
The radio
program features yesterday's songs
as well as today's. (MWALD)
That actor
is yesterday's news. (MWALD)
Today's cars
aren't all that different from the models of yesterday. (MWALD)
Nobody's interested in
yesterday's pop stars. (CALD)
These songs are a part of all our yesterdays. (CALD)
The worker of today is different from the worker of yesterday. (Cobuild)
It's been over a year since we met, but it seems like only
yesterday. (MWALD)
The police have deduced that he must have left his apartment
yesterday evening. (CALD)
經常看我的文章的人都會記得我常說的一句話：tense很容易，照單執藥而矣；preposition也不難，最難的反而是冠詞（article）。如果我沒記錯的話，我應該是唯一一個這樣教tense的人，其他的英文老師都是在教了一些「似是而非」的概念後，叫你死做練習。熟對熟錯？看看外國人在真實世界中是如何應用便知，大家不用拗！
不計小學和初中我那幾年渾渾噩噩的日子，我自中四開始自修英文至今四十年。坦白講，自己頭三十年的英文只屬一般，雖然我懂的文法知識比市面上的英文老師多很多，但我也不認為自己當年有資格去教人英文。當然我在金融海嘯時也因為失業而曾經短暫地試過去教一些新移民小學生英文，但我這是為生活糊口沒辦法，但做人要有良知，不能賺黑心錢。現在這類英文老師根本是在呃飯食！無怪現在教英文的人講十樣嘢錯了八樣，毫無自知之明的人以此為最！
