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2015年3月1日 星期日

Inquire about的意思


寫一篇短文!古德明前幾天談到動詞inquire這字,他提到:

說所問的事情,inquire之後什麼時候用about,什麼時候不用?按所問的假如是一些明確問題,不用about;是一些籠統問題,則用about,例如:(1I inquired about the man(我問及那人的詳情)。(2I inquired the man's name, address, and telephone number(我問那人的姓名、住址、電話號碼)。

古德明的看法是,說籠統的問題,用inquire about sth,而問明確的問題則是inquire sth。好了,我想問怎樣才算籠統的問題?而明確的問題又是那些?例如問票價算不算明確的問題?問路呢?是否籠統的問題?我相信沒有人能答到我。

我認為古德明又再一次自作聰明,用自己發明的古式英語來糊弄讀者,他的說法一看就知有問題,你只要有一個反證,他的解說便站不住腳!要找這兩個用法的異同,查英式學習型字典你會不得要領!我帶大家看看一些大型美式字典的定義。在衆多美式字典中,我認為American Heritage Dictionary給的定義較佳:

inquire about sth

- to seek information by asking a question : inquire about prices (AHD)

inquire sth

- to ask, especially politely or formally (AHD)

- seek knowledge of a thing by asking a question; ask to be told (SOED)

在其它三大美式字典中,對這兩個用法所落的定義稍嫌重覆和模糊不清。我現在來解釋一下這兩個用法的分別,大家可以比對一下古大師的解說,看誰的可信性較高。

Intransitive verb inquire其實是指查詢某些資料,大家可以用下面的例句印證一下:

e.g. I am writing to inquire about your advertisement in 'The Times'. (LDOCE)

e.g. Several people have phoned the personnel department to inquire about the position. (LDOCE)

e.g. I thought it might be rude to inquire about her ex-husband. (CALD)

e.g. I have a customer on the phone inquiring about the publication date. (CALD)

e.g. I called the station to inquire about train times. (OALD)

e.g. Why don't you telephone the theatre and inquire about tickets? (MED)

e.g. A growing number of customers have been inquiring about the pending price rises. (Cobuild Wordbank)

e.g. We inquired the precise circumstances surrounding the arrest. (Cobuild Wordbank)

e.g. I called to inquire about the schedule. (MWALD)

e.g. He was inquiring about a friend who used to work here. (MWALD)

e.g. He enquired about cottages for sale. (ODE)

相對來說,inquire直接跟indirect object這句式現在較為少見,它的意思只是簡單詢問一些事情,如人名,問路等:

e.g. He was so impressed that he inquired the young shepherd's name. (Cobuild)

e.g. He inquired the way to the station. (MWALD)

其實嚴格來說,這個分別並不太明顯,學生寫作時應多留意!在這件事中,古德明的問題不在其英語水平,而在其智慧!這樣的解說他也敢拿出來,正常人也不會這樣笨吧?枉他還敢經常批評時政,簡直不自量力!


PS     男神最近在FB說到有人提醒他讀錯了above這字,我看後不敢搖頭嘆息!早說他教的讀音沒什麼用處,一些應該留意但人人讀錯的讀音他卻不懂。像above這字,我廿年前便知人們讀錯了!在這裏,大猩猩不妨多教大家一個字的發音。language這字的第二部份並非讀/a/,而是讀/i/音,即/ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ/