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：（1）I inquired
about the man（我問及那人的詳情）。（2）I 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/。
