【商業英語】混淆詞組出沒注意

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每次批改學生的商業書信，尤其是求職信與商務電郵時，經常看到他們把一些常見的詞語混淆，並錯誤地運用在句子裏，把一份完本寫得大好的文件折扣大減。這星期就讓我們探討一些經常被容易混淆的詞組，以及其正確的使用方法。

讀者們除要注意這些字的詞類(part of speech)外，還要細心留意下列例子，避免以後再犯同一錯誤。當然，可能你會認為犯了一些大多數人都會犯的錯誤，實屬無傷大雅，但在這競爭激烈的香港，你會甘心只做平庸的一群嗎？有時就是這一點點的差別，便奠定誰勝誰負了。

e.g. a) They are afraid of being laid off （被解僱）.        

b) I fear to request a pay-rise （加人工）.

c) Not everyone has the fear of death. （這裏用作名詞）       

註：“Afraid of”與“fear”同樣有「害怕」的意思，但“afraid of”是形容詞，之前要加“verb-to-be”(如is, am, are等)，而“fear”則可是動詞或名詞，兩者的用法不一。

e.g. a) It is already 5 a.m. and they are still watching a World Cup match.            

     b) It is 5:25 p.m. and the employees are all ready to leave the office.

 註：“Already”指「已經」，是副詞；而“all ready”有「全部準備好」的意思，兩者的意思不同。

e.g. a) We are not altogether wrong in that.  

b) You can’t do the project on your own! Let’s do it all together.

註：“Altogether”指「完全地」，是副詞；而“all together” (分開兩個字)有「一齊」的意思，兩者的意思不一。

e.g. a) The employees are always ready to work overtime.  

       b) They have tried all ways to solve the problem but they could not.

註：“Always”有「總是」、「每次都」的意思，是副詞；而“all ways” (分開兩個字)有「所有的方法」的意思，兩者的意思不一。

e.g. a) Everyone needs to perform well in the department.        

        b) Every one of the employees knows about the company’s vision and mission statement.

註：“Everyone”與“every one”同樣有「每個人」的意思，但“everyone”泛指「所有人」，而“every one” (分開兩個字)則較著重「每一」，並且之後通常跟「of ＋名詞」。

e.g. a) Newspapers keep us informed about daily happenings.

       b) The Dairy Farm produces most of the dairy products in HK.              

       c) Some people keep diaries.

註：“Daily”指「每天的」、「每天地」;“dairy”有「奶製品的」意思；而“diary”是「日記」或「日程簿

」，三者的意思完全不同，讀音也不一。

e.g. a) This is my everyday schedule.            

       b) We have a long meeting every day.

註：“Everyday”與“every day”同樣有「每天」的意思，但“everyday”是形容詞，之後要跟名詞，如“everyday routine” （每天的例行公事），而“every day” (分開兩個字)則指「天天」，兩者的用法不一，但不少人香港人都錯誤地把“every day”寫成“everyday”。

大家不妨試試以下的練習，測試一下自己是否已經清楚明白以上容易混淆詞組的運用（答案在文章結尾）。

1. We were (A. already /B. all ready) to go in fifteen minutes.

2. Let’s do the demanding task (A. all together / B. altogether).

3. The merchant deals with (A. daily / B. dairy / C. diary) products.

4. They have used (A. always / B. all ways) to get more clients.

5. Your interpretation is not (A. all together / B. altogether) wrong.

6. We (A. afraid of / B. fear) that he has had an accident on his new motorbike.

7. Would (A. anyone / B. any one) like to come with me?

8. He kept his (A. daily / B. dairy / C. diary) in the drawer.

9. (A. Anyone / B. Any one) of those proposals will suit us.

10. If (A. everyone / B. every one) comes to the talk, there won’t be enough seats.

11. He is (A. always / B. all ways) ready to undertake responsibility.

12. The captain kept a (A. daily / B. dairy / D. diary) record of the voyage.

13. Can you tell me who is not (A. afraid of / B. fear) the boss?

14. We are (A. already / B. all ready) to face the challenges ahead.

15. We do not (A. altogether / B. all together) approve of the decision.

 答案：

1.B    2.A    3.B    4.B     5.B     6.B     7.A     8.C     9.B   10.A   11.A   12.A   13.A   14.B   15.A

Frankie Chan

MA in English Language Teaching, BSc (First Honour), TEFL Dip.

現代教育IELTS/ TOEFL /Workplace English資深英語名師，著名TOEFL參考書作者及星島日報IELTS攻略專欄作者。曾任劍橋商業英語考試BULATS寫作及口試考官，並於國際大型英語學院任教多年並擔任其多間分校校長，具十多年教學經驗，並具豐富管理與發展商業英語及國際英語考試課程經驗。

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