英語寫作中的常見錯誤(形容與與副詞)

學生在英語寫作中用作形容詞和副詞的情形比較復雜，比如受相似詞形的影響而用錯，因搭配而用錯，因語法不熟悉而用錯，因修飾關系而用錯，另外還有比較等級的用法，等等。如：

誤用：No matter how hardly they work, the person they are responsible for is working twice as hard.

改為：No matter how hard they work, the person they are responsible for is working twice as hard.

分析：hard 和 hardly 都是副詞，但兩者意思完全不同：前者意為“努力地”，后者意為“幾乎不”。又如：I was sure he was telling the truth and yet I did find it hard to believe. 我肯定他在說實話，不過我的確感到難以相信。

句意：無論他們花多大力氣，他們負責照管的那個人都要付出雙倍的力氣來工作。

誤用：Cameras can’t make the kind of adjustments the brain does and this factor means that a drawing of a place and a photograph taken of the same spot look very differently.

改為：Cameras can’t make the kind of adjustments the brain does and this factor means that a drawing of a place and a photograph taken of the same spot look very different.

說明：用于系動詞 look 后面作表語，要用形容詞，而不是用副詞。類似地：The dinner smells good. 這飯菜聞起來真香。 Silk feels soft and smooth. 綢緞摸起來柔軟光滑。

句意：照相機無法像人腦那樣作出調整，這一因素意味著表現一個地方的畫作與在同一地方拍攝的照片看起來有很大差別。

誤用：Reluctantly the night porter decided that he would have to disturb the asleep guests.

改為：Reluctantly the night porter decided that he would have to disturb the sleeping guests.

說明：asleep 是表語形容詞，一般不能單獨放在名詞前作定語。要表示“正在睡覺”，可用sleeping作定語，又如：He awoke the sleeping child. 他把那個睡著的孩子弄醒了。

句意：雖不情愿，那位夜間服務員后來還是決定他必須打擾一下那些睡覺的客人。

誤用：Buying cheap tyres is a false economy-they may cost a bit less, but they will wear out fairly more quickly.

改為：Buying cheap tyres is a false economy-they may cost a bit less, but they will wear out much [far, a lot] more quickly.

說明：fairly可以修飾形容詞和副詞的原級，但不能修飾比較級，可用于修飾形容詞副詞比較級的副詞或短語有：a lot, a bit, a little, any, by far, even, far, much, no, rather, still等。又如：For them enthusiasm is a lot more important than talent. 譯：對他們來說，熱情比才華更為重要。

句意：買便宜的輪胎也許省一點錢，但磨損起來也更快—這是徒有其表的節約。

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