汉语引起的三类常见英语语法错误

文/唐老雅

常常有烤鸭问我：到底什么样的雅思作文可以得到6分，什么样的作文能得7分？答案当然可能是很复杂的。但如果排除审题偏差、内容跑题这类问题后，我们大约可以这样来判断雅思作文6分和7分的区别：6分作文要求句子语法基本正确，没有很多语法错误，更不能出现让读者无法看懂句子意思的语法错误，如果出现了这类错误，那么作文就很可能降格到5分段；同时，如果出现了过多小语法错误，即使文章能让人读懂，也有可能给判在5分段。而7分作文中，即使是小的语法错误也需要避免，同时句式还要表现出一定的灵活性和多样性。这样看来，在雅思作文中，决定能否跨过6分的关键是句子的正确性，决定能否跨过7分的关键则是句子的正确性和多样性。句子的正确性是写作成功的第一步，但很多烤鸭不断在写作内容上下功夫，但却屡屡在句子写作上犯错误，从而失去获得更高分的可能性。本次专栏文章，老雅想通过比较汉语和英语的区别，指出由汉语引起的三类常见英语语法错误，以帮助各位烤鸭发现句子错误的根源及修改方式。

人们常常说，汉语是意合语言，而英语是形合语言。这是什么意思呢？其实很简单，汉语是靠意义、靠感觉来搭建的语言，而英语是靠形式、靠语法规范来搭建的语言。这种差异就决定了汉语和英语在句子写作中有如下三个主要差异：

一、汉语没有词形变化，而英语有词形变化。

相信英语初学者都曾对英语动词的时态变化心有余悸，同样一个动词，用于一般现在时、过去时、将来时等时，其形态就要发生变化，而汉语会永远用同一个形态。比如，我每天去上学/我昨天去上学/我明天去上学，汉语都是“去上学”，可英语就要分别对应go to school、went to school、will go to school三种不同形态。这种词形差异还体现在代词、情态动词、比较级、主谓一致等方面。例如：

误 I had a look at my watch and I knew what will happen.（时态误用）

改 I had a look at my watch and I knew what would happen.

误 The eating habit of Chinese people have changed dramatically in the past decade.（主谓不一致）

改 The eating habit of Chinese people has changed dramatically in the past decade.

误 Whether one enjoys or resents advertisements, we are actually inundated with it every hour of the day.（代词误用）

改 Whether one enjoys or resents them, he/she is actually inundated with advertisements every hour of the day.

误 In a word, if we have no TV, we may lose something which bring us happy.（语态误用）

改 In a word, if we had no TV, we might lose something which brings us happiness.

二、汉语句法可以比较随意，而英语句法通常比较严格。

一个完整的英语句子，必须有主语、谓语这两个基本成分，否则就会被称为残缺句（broken sentences），而汉语则主要依靠感觉，对主语谓语的结构要求没有那么高。比如：“保护环境，一定要提高意识。”——读到这个句子，我们中国人会觉得语法没有什么问题，我们也不会去追问，到底是谁“一定要提高意识”，我们凭感觉就知道说话者到底在说谁，因此不必明确出来。但英语就不一样，如果你将那句汉语直接翻译为“protect environment, must promote awareness”，那一定会被认为是严重的语法错误。那么，到底怎么翻译这句呢？其实，人们经常说汉语是一门隐晦的语言或诗性的语言，其原因就在这里：明明“保护环境”表示就是目的，也就是“为了保护环境”，但我们就是不用“为了”这个连接词，让你去猜猜猜！明明“一定要提高意识”肯定是指“我们”或“你们”，甚至“我们大家”，但也不明确说出来，让你去猜猜猜！因此，任何一个汉语句子，我们都可以做出多种不同的解释，就是由汉语内在的这种隐晦性或诗性所决定的。如果把上面那句翻译成英语，就需要明确出“为了保护环境”，就需要明确出“谁一定要提高意识”，这样一来，英语就把汉语的很多可能性变成了只有一种确定的可能了（比如：In order to protect environment, we must promote our awareness.）。此外，英语句法对句子中主语和谓语的搭配要求也相当严格。举例如下：

误 But the science and technology also is a two-edge sword, if uses unsuitably will bring the suffering of destruction to people.（破碎句）

改 But science and technology is also a double-edged sword, which might be destructive to human being if used improperly.

误 In order to get a good mark, it took me much time, when I didn’t have classes this weekdays, to get ready for this exam.（逻辑主语不匹配）

改 In order to get a good mark, I spend much of my spare time getting ready for this exam.

误 China develops very fast which could supply so many chances of jobs for people that a few of people have several jobs at the same time, and they must improve their efficiency including walking in the road.（汉语句型的直接翻译）

改 As China develops rapidly, so many new job opportunities are opened up that some people can take several jobs at the same time, which makes it necessary for them to minimize their commuting time.

误 Psychological health let us have good individual character including steady feeling, gentle disposition, and strong will, easy to get along with other person, can adapt oneself to complicated circumstances as well as have good relation with other people.（列举成分的形式不统一）

改 Mental health gives us desirable personalities such as stable feeling,gentle disposition and strong will, and makes it easy for us to get along with others, to adapt ourselves to the complicated circumstances as well as maintain favorable interpersonal relationships.

三、汉语可以用流水句，英语不可以。

汉语中，两个独立句子只要有关系，就可以用逗号连接，且不需要任何表示两句关系的连接词，而在英语中，这两个句子若用逗号连接，就必须有表示两句关系的连接词，否则必须用句号，若既无连接词，又用逗号连接，就构成了不符合英语语法规范的“流水句”。中国学生由于受到汉语影响，“流水句”问题屡见不鲜，屡教不改，是英语教师比较头痛的难题。比如中国学生作文中常见的一句：We should work together to fight air pollution, this is very important.（我们必须团结起来与空气污染作斗争，这一点非常重要。）这样的英语就是受到汉语意合语法的影响，两个独立的句子用逗号相连，而且没有连接词。怎么修改呢？很简单，就是把它们分成两句，或者把其中一句变成从属句，即：①We should work together to fight air pollution. This is very important. 或者②We should work together to fight air pollution, which is very important. 再或③It is very important that we work together to fight air pollution. 请看更多例句：

误 As China entered WTO, the cost of a car is decreasing in these years,many families could buy and use a family car.（流水句）

改 As China has become a member of WTO, the cost of a car is keeping lowering down in recent years so that many families could afford a private car.

误 Health is the most important factor in our lives, we can lose money and authority, but we can’t lose health.（流水句）

改 Health is the most important factor in our life. We can lose money and power, but we can not lose health.