這三個單詞，有可能出賣了你的語感......

08-31

來自專欄留美考試寫作疑難雜症診療室 AP SAT 托福1 人贊了文章

我在標題首先給自己挖了個坑，拋出了「語感」一詞。語感是什麼，和語法有何同異？對於這個異常複雜的問題，我只能給出一個簡單粗暴的回答：You are not asking for an answer, you are asking for a reading list! —— 這是這是語言學家可以爭論到天荒地老的問題。

語感雖貌似虛無縹緲，難以量化，但不能因此就定論它不存在。在知乎上，我讀過這個超贊的解釋：「語感是確實存在的，它和語法的關係就像法律和道德。人的世界是模糊的，不是能靠法律和語法所能搞定的，總會有些模糊的邊界，比如那些讓人惱火的介詞，在這裡語感和道德規範人們的行為。」 (引自「語感是個偽概念」一文的留言)

雖然語感欠缺的學生寫出來的作文奇形怪狀，但是有三個單詞的錯誤使用往往出賣了一個學生語感不好。來看這幾個句子：

1. Without the ability to learn by oneself, one will be quickly left behind by the society.

2. The quality of the product is the most important thing that consumers concern.

3. In recent years, because parents are offering too much help to their kids, and as a result, children are lack of responsibility.

讀出來什麼地方不對勁嗎？沒讀出來？那以下關於 society, concern, lack 的知識點太適合你啦！（例句均選自英美主流媒體或牛津詞典）

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SOCIETY

society 前面不需要加定冠詞 the, 例如：

- In society, we do horrible things to one another because we don』t see the person it affects.

當代社會可以表達為 contemporary society or modern society，例如：

- Unfortunately, modern society seems to follow this adage: 「When walking, check your cellphone. When eating, check your cellphone.」

- He doesn』t reject contemporary digital society, but he laments the way it further removes us from the natural world.

society 前面可以加形容詞，依然不需要加定冠詞 the, 例如：

- Chocolate is widely regarded as the most commonly craved food in Western society.

- 「As Muslims, such opinions should be received as constructive criticism in a pluralistic society,」 he added.

- They argue that poor students are not getting the basic reading and writing skills necessary to function as citizens in a democratic society.

- Having abandoned the trappings of civilized society, he leads a largely solitary life.

當然也有例外的情況，society 除了「社會，社會體制」的意思，也有「社團，協會」的意思，例如，英國皇家鳥類保護協會，叫作 the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

即使 society 的意思是「社會，社會體制」，也有前面加 the 的時候：

- He runs into a teenage girl, Violet, who sees this new world as freedom from the society that didn』t accept her true self.

society 前加 the 是為了強調不容納她真實自我的「那個」社會。

- Reich defines the common good as consisting in 「our shared values about what we owe one another as citizens who are bound together in the same society.」

same 固定前面要加定冠詞 the，所以是 in the same society 不是 in same society.

LACK

lack 可作動詞，可作名詞，但是它不是形容詞。

作動詞：

- Journalists who tried the demo this week said it was a decent reflection of the show』s humor, but lacked polish.

- What the film mostly lacks is its own flavor.

作名詞：

- Acute cash shortages and lack of foreign investment are part of the economic crisis afflicting the southern African nation.

- The lack of rain, Mr. Martens said, will reduce his corn yield by about 20 percent, but the late-summer deluges damaged the quality of his spelt, a type of wheat.

- From 20 to 30 percent of these workers complain of a lack of sleep on a daily basis.

當然，有 be lacking in something 這一表達，此時 lacking 作形容詞，可理解為 insufficient, inadequate, deficient 的同義詞，例如：

- There needs to be a cleverness to it, and that is simply lacking here.

- According to his calculations, that sum would be enough for her studies, so that all that was lacking was the price of her fare back home.

- Ian Lassiter』s Pushkin is woefully lacking in charisma — a seemingly deliberate choice, and in keeping with the production, but a mistake.

CONCERN

先來讀一下 concern 在牛津詞典作為動詞的解釋。

1. relate to; be about:

The story concerns a friend of mine. = The story is about a friend of mine.

The report is mainly concerned with 1984 onwards. = The report is mainly about things that happened from 1984 onwards, not things that happened before 1984.

2. be relevant or important to; affect or involve:

She was prying into that which did not concern her. = She is asking too many questions and showing too much curiosity about things that are none of her business.

Many thanks to all concerned. = Thank you to all those who are involved.

I was mainly concerned with making something that children could enjoy. = I think it is important to make something that children could enjoy.

3. make (someone) anxious or worried:

The roof of the barn concerns me because eventually it will fall in.

= I am worried about the roof of the barn eventually falling in.

concern 雖然翻譯為中文有「關心」的意思，但它的用法不是

somebody concerns something,

or, somebody concerns about something,

而是

something concerns somebody,

or, something makes somebody feel concerned,

or, somebody is concerned about something (concerned 為形容詞，同義詞包括 worried, troubled, anxious).