滬江小編:在英語(yǔ)寫(xiě)作中,尤其在商務(wù)寫(xiě)作中,我們總覺(jué)得用of比用's顯得更正式。其實(shí),如果不分情況濫用of的話(huà),反而會(huì)使得文章累贅不堪,而且容易造成閱讀困難。下面就來(lái)說(shuō)說(shuō)什么時(shí)候用of,什么時(shí)候用's。
I find that non-native English speakers tend to use the word “of” much too often. “Of” is also
frequently used incorrectly instead of other
prepositions.
我發(fā)現(xiàn)非英語(yǔ)為母語(yǔ)的人經(jīng)常用of這個(gè)詞,但是這個(gè)詞比起其他介詞來(lái),也更常被誤用。
Non-native English speakers tend to write, for example, the
attorney of the
claimant where native speakers would write the claimant’s attorney. Although both
structures are grammatically correct,
phrases like the attorney of the claimant increase the “wordiness” and
complexity of a sentence and make your writing more difficult to read.
非英語(yǔ)為母語(yǔ)的人喜歡這樣表達(dá)“the attorney of the claimant”(原告的律師),而英語(yǔ)國(guó)家人士則習(xí)慣于這樣表達(dá)“the claimant’s attorney”。雖然兩種表達(dá)在語(yǔ)法上都是正確的,但是用of的詞組表達(dá)則顯得語(yǔ)句更為累贅,使句子更加難以理解。
Here are some examples:
看下面的這些例子:
Bad Style |
Good Style |
the decision of the regulatory authority |
the regulatory authority’s decision |
the approval of the Management Board |
the Management Board’s approval |
the consent of the Meeting of Shareholders |
the consent of the Shareholders’ Meeting |
the representative of the Company |
the Company’s representative |
the total remuneration of the Contractor |
the Contractor’s total remuneration |
Note that all these examples refer to a person or a group of people – i.e. the claimant, the regulatory authority, the Management Board, the Shareholders’ Meeting, the Company and the Contractor.
以上的例子所指代的對(duì)象都是某人或由某些人組成的組織,比如原告、管理機(jī)構(gòu)、管理局、股東大會(huì)、公司和承包人,所以可以用’s來(lái)代替of。
Now look at other examples:
再看下面這組例子:
Bad Style |
Good Style |
German law’s perspective |
?the perspective of German law |
the contract’s termination |
the termination of the contract |
the claim’s rejection |
the rejection of the claim |
the contract’s annex |
the annex to / of the contract |
the judgement’s date |
the date of the judgement |
the plans’ realisation |
the realisation of the plans |
There are no people involved in any of these examples, so it is better to use of instead of ’s.
這些例子里,都沒(méi)有涉及到任何人,所以在這里較為恰當(dāng)?shù)挠梅ㄟ€是使用of來(lái)代替’s。
I should add, however, that this is a general rule, and there are
exceptions to it. But if you follow this rule, it should – most of the time – make your writing easier to read.
我要特別指出的是,這是一條通用法則,當(dāng)然還有特殊情況。不過(guò),如果你學(xué)會(huì)了這條法則的話(huà),大多數(shù)時(shí)候,你的英語(yǔ)寫(xiě)作會(huì)更容易閱讀。
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