地道英語中很少用people或person嗎?
寫作老師以she is a beautiful person為例,指出其中的person是冗餘的,這我同意。不過在其他表達人們的句子中,老師也不贊同用people,並說不要讓他在我們寫的作文中看見people或person。所以說地道英語中表達人們二字都不用people和person?這兩個詞只用來表達人民或民族?
———————————————————————額,其實我不是問這兩個詞的使用方法或者區別,而是問這兩者在地道英語中的使用頻率是否如老師所言那樣非常之低。創意寫作老師認為無論people和person都是沒有必要在作文里出現的(好像還有一個詞他也挺嗤之以鼻的但我給忘了)╭(°A°`)╮ 比如我作文里有寫到reduce people to death,老師就說我是用漢語思維寫的,所以才用people...然而他並沒有告訴我怎麼改,我也沒辦法把句子里「人們」這個意思去掉,只能把people改成someone或者us了吧,或者直接把整句都換了-.- 現在弄得以後我在交給他的作文里都不敢寫諸如four people, five people之類的了-_- 深怕踩地雷
This is a very good question!
Briefly:
- "She is beautiful" is fine as long as it is clear to the reader or listener who or what "she" is. (She could be a dog.)
- "She is a beautiful person" isn"t wrong and is NOT weird for native English speakers to say.
My guess is your teacher wants you to be more specific. For example, "She is a beautiful girl/woman". (This is more specific but still redundant, because "she" specifies the gender.)
In regards to using "people" and "person", I use both quite regularly, because it is not always possible to be more specific and it can leave people out.
For example, if you talk about people who work in a financial department and use "accountants" instead of "people who work in the financial department", you may end up leaving out people who work in the financial department but aren"t accountants, like secretaries, for example.
And your teacher is incorrect to say that we use "people" only when discussing nationalities. It is redundant to say "Canadian people" or "Chinese people". People usually say "Canadians" and "Chinese" instead.
I hope this helpful. Please don"t give your teacher my name. :p
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栗子的知乎答案索引:栗子樹
栗子的微信公眾號:E-Speller 或者 栗子英文 (只有精彩的原創)
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It"s not wise to answer this question with a straight yes or no. Generally speaking, "person/people and thing/things" are what we talk about every day since we don"t talk about abstractions or general ideas all the time. However, you seem to be under the tutelage of a teacher who"s guiding you through academic writing. In this case, you have to, to some extent, avoid using person/people and thing/things too often because these words convey less specific connotations, which don"t find favor with readers. For example:
People should be given the best medical treatment. (less specific)--&> Patients should be given the best medical treatment. (more specific)--&> Cancer victims should be given the best medical treatment.(more specific)--&> Teenage diabetics should be given the best medical treatment. (more specific)Friends usually provide you with a lot of things. (less specific)
--&> Friends usually provide you with encouragement, warmth, and comfort. (more specific)In academic writing, you"re expected to be forthcoming, so effective phrasing is of the essence. Sure, it"s okay to use "person/people and thing/things" more frequently in our day-to-day conversation, especially when you talk about a subject in broad terms. For example:
I don"t think people can be true friends after they break up.Mark needs a person to work with because he just hates to be alone.-------[POSTSCRIPT]-------
Honestly, I have problems with some of your explanations. The use of "person/people" does not always indicate the formality of context. The last example above is a case in point, as "a person" here simply means "someone" or "someone who makes Mark feel less lonely". In most cases, "a person" refers to "a human being", "an individual", or "a man", which some believe smacks of sexism. Specifically, a person is a human being with a specific character, and people are a group of human beings with similar or different personality traits. It"s okay to use "a person/people" on either formal or informal occasions. But please note that "persons" shouldn"t appear in casual speech but in formal documents. "People" should be your choice unless you are working on legal documents or citing official statistics.Hope this helps.英語里不像中文裡把「人」字掛在嘴邊,比如
街上人很多。
習慣表達可能是
即使要表達「人」這個概念時,也會優先使用更具體、更確切的詞,比如你的例子The streets are crowded. (街上很擁擠。)
She is a beautiful person.
英語里更自然的說法是
She is a beautiful woman/lady/girl.
你們老師說完全不用people/person只是為了訓練你們掌握更多辭彙,用這兩個詞表達「人」的情況並不是完全沒有,只不過絕大多數情況下都可以找到其他說法代替。總體來說,一般英語里用people/person這兩個詞的頻率確實比中文裡說「人」字低很多。
She is a beautiful person. 這句話本身並沒有什麼大毛病。
不過,person、people 這兩個詞的語氣比較冷靜,如果你這句話是放在抒情色彩較重的文體里,那麼把 person 換成 woman / girl 會好一些。
另外有人說 person 是冗餘的,說 She is beautiful 就夠了。這話對,但如果不是在極端追求簡潔的場合,也不用這麼惜墨如金。
如果從這個句子推廣開去,說「地道英語中很少用 person / people」,就不對了。在表示 「別人"的時候用 people
- People will think you are strange.
- I don"t care what people will think of me.
- Microsoft people
- Apple people
一、歪果仁真的不這麼用?
來看我對《絕望的主婦》第一季台詞檢索
裡面出現了16處people,無一例外全部在表達「人們」,也就是說,這是一個集合名詞,不單獨表示「某人」:
1 After the funeral, all the residents of Wisteria Lane came to pay their respects.
葬禮之後,所有住在wisteria lane人都來表示他們對我的懷念和尊敬,
2. And as people do in this situation, they brought food.
就像人們在這種情況下通常會做的,他們送來點吃的。3.-CARLOS: Hey, people are starting to stare. Can you keep your voice down please?
喂,大家都在看,輕點,好么? -GABRIELLE: (sigh) Absolutely. Wouldn』t want them to think we』re not happy. (嘆息)當然,我可不希望他們認為我們不和。4.-JULIE: Mom, why would someone kill themselves?
媽媽... 為什麼有人要自殺? -SUSAN: Well, sometimes people are so unhappy they think it』s the only way they can solve their problems. 嗯...因為他們太不快樂了,他們覺得這是他們解決問題的唯一方法. -SUSAN: Yeah, sometimes people pretend to be one way on the outside and they』re totally different on the inside. 嗯,是的,有時候有些人在外人面前的表現和實際上是完全不一樣的。5.-SUSAN: I mean, of all people, did he have to bang his secretary? I had that woman over for brunch
have: [賓語補足語用過去分詞等結構表示]使(在)某方面出現某種狀態 我不明白,那麼多人,幹嘛和他的秘書搞在一起? 大概她的早餐做得比我好。6.-DANIELLE: Just once, can we have a soup that people have heard of?
just: 只是 hear of: 知道,知道有 只要一次就好,難到我們不能喝點大家都知道的湯? Like, french onion or navy bean onion: 洋蔥 navy bean: 菜豆 就像法國洋蔥或者是菜豆?7. -EDIE: It』s all gone. Everything my ex-husband』s worked for all those years. Gone.
ex-husband: 前夫都過去了……我的前夫這些年的辛苦都白費了。
-MRS HUBER: Don』t worry about clothing, I already started a collection from people in the neighbourhood.
好了,別擔心衣服了,我已經開始去鄰里搜集一些衣服了。
8. -Mary Alice: Paul never likes to have people over but the heck with him I"m doing it.
Paul不喜歡家裡有很多人,不過管他呢,我照樣要辦。
9.People are going to think we didn"t care about her.
人們會認為我們不關心她。
-Paul: I doubt people will give it much thought.
我認為人們不會有很多想法
10.Sometimes we even kiss our dog. Ha ha.
even: 甚至有時候我們甚至會親吻我們的狗,呵呵。
Sometimes we even kiss people who are just our friends, 有時候我們甚至親吻我們的朋友。
11.You walked out on your family. walk out on: 離開,拋棄
你拋下了自己的妻女。
People think you"re scum, not me, scum: 槽粕
人們會認為你是渣子,而不是我。
12. -Mike: You mean people who live in glass houses shouldn"t throw soda cans?
people who live in glass houses should not throw stones: 自身有短,勿批他人【這裡用soda can與stone一樣】你的意思是處於類似境地的你不應當評論他人?http://13.In college, when we first started dating, people were so jealous of us.
大學裡,當我們剛開始約會的時候,人們都在嫉妒我們。We were the golden couple. golden: 極好的 couple: 夫婦 我們是極好的一對。檢索person 出現了6處 ,其中有5處是personal,一處用到了person。
I don"t want to live like that.
我不想那樣子生活。I don"t want to be that kind of person,我不想做那樣的人。其實我們基本可以從上面的用法中得出結論了,person確實不用於漢語中的「你怎麼是個這樣的人」「你是個好人」這樣的用法,而person 用於客觀描述,遠多於主觀印象。
比如:
漢語中的:你這個人啊!不會用person。
但是如果是英文中的新聞報道中很常見,尤其是天災人禍類的報道:
At least one person died and several others were injured.
至少一人死亡,還有幾個人受傷。
二、寫作中特別想要去描述的話該怎麼辦?
1.被動語態
比如在表達「人們常說」的時候,可以用
It is said that
2.使用無靈主語。
用非人稱主語表達時,英語往往注重「什麼事發生在什麼人身上」。而漢語則較常用人稱主語表達,側重「什麼人怎麼樣了」。
無靈主語常見之一 There be 句型
這個句型的意思是「有」,表示「人或事物的存在」或「某地有某物」。
有志者,事競成。
When there is a will, there is a way.
這兩句話的翻譯就可見中英文的反差。
在表達「人們常說」的時候,就可以直接用 There is a common belief that….
無靈主語還有一些常見的用法,這些用好之後會給人一種生動地道的印象。
比如在表達「我聽說」就可以直接用 Rumor has it that …
再舉幾個例子:
我從未想過……
不是 I never thought of/that…
而是 It never occurred to me that…
我想不起來那名字了……
不是 I cannot remember that name…
而是 That name escapes me….
3.形容詞
他是個好人,不要用good person,直接用kind反而更直觀。
4.具體化替代詞
可以用girl, woman, guy, man等,另一個重要的詞就是one,這個詞也長期被同學們忽略。
比如:人們不用花費很大力氣就能發現抽煙和癌症之間的密切關係。
One doesn』t have to look far to realize a direct relationship between smoking and cancer.
仔細看了下題主的描述,根據我多~~~~~~年的臨床經驗,這道題的答案應該是:
題主誤解了老師的意思。
首先,我不認為有哪個正常的英語老師會說出「地道英語中很少用people或person」之類的話,因為就像其它答案里說的,要找所謂」地道「英語中那兩個詞的用法,真是不要太簡單哦。
其次,是看到題主的補充說明,對於能寫出"reduce people to death"這種句子的學生,老師要做的不是跟你玩語言學理論講究精確性,而是要簡單可行粗暴地制止你的(一堆)壞毛病。根據我個人的猜測,實際情況有兩種可能:要麼是題主的老師的確說了那樣的話,但是是有上下文的,老師應該限定的是題主某種表達或者意識中相關詞的用法;要麼,是題主的老師沒說那樣的話,是題主在轉述中有了偏差。
最後,針對(我瞎猜出來的)題主目前的英語水平,我給題主的建議是:
不要自己用語法和辭彙去造句。
你需要的是照著句子進行改寫和擴/縮練習。至於照什麼句子,看你個人愛好,新概念/課本/簡潔派小說等等隨便。
如果題主忍不住非要享受言論自由的話,你有很大可能會加入學英語學了一輩子還是學不好的大軍之中。
你還沒到需要去研究「地道英語中很少用people或person」這個問題的程度,你現在需要的是,忍住自己創作的衝動,去模仿那些用到了people或者person的例句。
題主的英語程度我只是瞎猜。猜的不對不要懟我喲~
延伸閱讀:知乎專欄 (為什麼學英語總是學不好?)記得《生活大爆炸》里胖妮第一次去面試醫療設備銷售的職位時,和那個老頭子瞎掰了一通,最後說自己是一個 people person(與人合得來的人)
所以我感覺並非 people/person 用得少,而是在該用的地方就得用。We the people.
現有的答案說的都很清楚了,
尤其同意@王贇 Maigo 的說法,大部分時候People/person的用法冷靜,嚴肅,但我還想補充一下。
在《朗文當代高級英語辭典》中這樣說:「Persons is also used, but only in formal notices, documents, and situations . persons 僅用於公告、公文和正式場合People meaning 『more than one person』 is already plural and cannot form a plural with 『s』 . 當people表示「多於一個人」時,已經是複數形式,不能再加 sPeople meaning 『race』 or 『nation』 is countable and you can add 『s』 to form a plural in the normal way . 當people表示「種族」或「民族」時,是可數名詞,可以加s構成複數」在《21世紀大英漢詞典》中有所補充:
「1.人(尤指個人)(重新釋義為)不包括尚未出生的嬰兒在內的人人們[用persons取代people, 其複數形式已在通告中通用]人;個人[用作不分性別的概稱]喜歡(或適應)…的人2.[主美國英語]傢伙3.身體;人體;[委婉語]下身(尤指陰部)4.人物;角色5.本人;自身6.【法律】自然人;法人7.容貌;人品;風度;外表8.【語法學】人稱」所以按照你的造句:She is a beautiful person,這句話給人的感覺是「她是一塊璞玉/一個美好的人。」——她是一個同時具備外在美也具有內在美的人;但如果你單純想說「她是個美人」,直接說「She is a beautiful girl」就好。英語電影和歌裡面到處都是people啊
「people fall in love in mysterious ways ""We are not like other people""That"s what people do "這幾句都是英劇美劇電影和歌曲裡面的原話感覺people的用法多是指 大眾普遍行為 有一種總結總述性質的感覺英語里有這個詞肯定就是要用的啊,只是怎麼用的問題吧,如果完全不敢用這個詞,也未免太謹慎了就比如說以前我們的老師特別不喜歡As we s all know ,說如果你說了這個詞,那麼你後面說的東西要麼別人知道,這樣就會是廢話,要麼別人不知道,那就會讓那個人覺得自己很蠢,因為其他人"all know "。老師的意思基本封殺了這個詞,但是我親耳聽到外國人演講的時候用到這個短語,可見我們老師個人偏見有些重了。還有老師不讓我們用I think ,說中國人用I think 簡直用爛了,於是我們在她面前都不敢說I think ,怕她說我們,搞得話都不會說了,其實,外國人用I think 也是常有的事,只是可能場合,語境不同,表達方式也更豐富。可見英語表達裡面沒有極端。Person is one person.
People is more than one person.How many people are you referring to?
I think you may be confusing yourself with the word, persons. Persons is the word that is not used often but is often used by English learners.Of the people, by the people, for the people.
可能不太專業而且不是很切題地強答。
我高中的英語老師對我英語學習乃至整個語言學習的一個重要啟示就是讓我知道了:中英文不是字字對應的。
語言都各自成一體系,如果還是用中文的思維和習慣去學習英文,我想那充其量只是在逐字翻譯。比如說問題里這個具體的例子,你想說她是個美人,用She is a beauty就足夠了,beauty就含有了美人、可人、美麗的東西的意思。不用美翻譯一下,人再翻譯一下。native speaking English裡面確實真的很少很少說people,person的
新聞報道、書面文章、科普教材等這一類裡面倒是挺多people, person的
所以說一切還是看場景。
話說回來,she is a beautiful person這句話真的很奇怪,沒有任何語法錯誤,但就是奇怪。學習native speaking, 就一定要把那些奇怪的說法給砍掉。
寫作我不清楚但是口語的話 可以用形容詞形容的時候 就一般不會廢話再在後面加個名詞 比如人
看見一個妞好看 大家會說 she is beautiful 而絕對不是她是一個漂亮的人
其實中文也一樣啊 她好漂亮 他很帥 是非常非常常見和常用的 而我們看到明星的時候 很少會轉過頭跟別人一本正經地說:她是一個漂亮的人感覺你的老師說的太絕對了,只要意思沒表達錯,沒必要把語言運用習慣限制得這麼死呀。當然你在表達的時候可以多嘗試用用其它意思更明確的詞,畢竟people 和 person範圍有點大。
我來說個地道的英語句子吧:
I"m a people person.
題主你覺得呢233333多看美劇,少上知乎,你就不會問出這樣的問題了。
https://wk.baidu.com/view/f50fb63b5727a5e9856a614d?pcf=2#6
我隨手百度了一個英語高頻詞統計,這類統計大部分是基於書面英語,而高頻詞在口頭英語中出現的頻率應該比在書面語中更高。這份榜單里people排90左右,person拍160左右。真不知道沒這兩個詞後,到底還怎麼說英語。那用啥?
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