● Back Numbers 097〜101

 今回も日本人の誤りやすいパターンを扱います。「もし…なら…」という場合、私たちは、つい"If ...., then ..." のパターンを使ってしまいがちです。しかし、このパターンを用いるには、ある条件があります。そしてそれ以外の場合には、こちらもあまり使いこなしていない人が多いと思われる、あるパターンを使わなければなりません。

マーク No. 097 A correct and an incorrect "If ...., then ..." pattern
      --- "If ...., then ..." のパターンを安易に使わないように

The Group A sentences below are grammatically correct, and the Group B sentences are incorrect:

Group A

If you always carry an umbrella, then you will never get wet.
If you study hard, then you will become famous.
If you do as I say, then everything will be fine.

Group B

(×)If you turn right, then you will see the building.
(×)If you open the door, then switch on the light.

It is not so difficult to see why this is so. In the Group A sentences, the meaning of "then" is "it follows logically that..."/"a natural result will be that...". For example, we can rewrite the above sentences like this:

If you always carry an umbrella, it follows logically that you will never get wet.
If you study hard, a natural result will be that you become famous.

However, in the Group B sentences, the meaning of "then" is nearer to "after that". In this case, the correct patterns of the Group B sentences would be like this:

If you turn right, you will see the building.
Turn right, and then [and after that] you will see the building.

Compare the last sentence in Group B with the following sentence:

If you want to study in that room, then switch on the light.

It is easy to see that the meaning of "then" is "it follows logically that you [must] switch on the light".

So, in conclusion, you can use "then" in this "if" pattern as long as it has the "logical meaning".

● Words & Phrases ●
  • it follows logically that...
    必然的に...のようになる
  • a natural result will be that...
    ... の結果になるのが自然である
  • be nearer to
    〜により近い(be near (to) 〜の比較級)
  • in conclusion
    結論的には
  • as long as ...
    ...である限り

(帝京大学教授 Christopher Barnard)

次回掲載予定1月16日

 

 日本人が最も習得しにくい動詞のパターンの一つに"deprive A of B"があります。of=「〜の」と覚えていると、このパターンが全く理解できません。なにしろ、"deprive A of B"のAとBの関係は、「ふつうの」A of Bと逆なのですから。いったい英語はどうなっているのでしょう?

マーク No. 098 The use of the word "of" with deprive-verbs (Part 1)
      --- deprive型の動詞の用法に関する注意点(その1)

In Column 63, I discussed the grammar pattern of deprive-verbs. Here are some examples to remind you:

I robbed him of the pen.
(私は彼からペンを奪った)
You cannot deprive anyone of life.
(我々は誰の生命も奪うことはできない)
We want to rid this house of cockroaches.
(この家からゴキカブリにいなくなってもらいたい)

As I mentioned in Column 63, the following pattern is rather easy to understand and use:

I stole the pen from him.
(彼からペンを盗んだ)

The English and Japanese sentences are similar in grammatical structure, with "from" = 「から」.

It is the deprive-verbs, with their use of "of", which seem rather strange. Why should we use "of" with deprive-verbs? One can certainly understand the meaning of "of" in an expression like "the mountains of Japan". But the use of "of" with deprive-verbs seems to be unrelated to what we imagine as the basic, common-sense meaning of "of".

Actually, "of", apart from its meaning which can often be translated as「の」in Japanese (日本の山々), has a less common meaning, namely the meaning of origin or separation. This can be called the privative meaning of "of".

It is easy to see a privative meaning in the case of "from" (steal from someone). But in the case of "of" we are so used to thinking that "of = 's/の", that we tend to overlook its privative meaning.

In the next Column, I will continue to look at the privative meaning of "of".

● Words & Phrases ●
  • to remind youはto remind you (of the discussion I had about the grammar pattern of deprive-verbs)の略
  • It is the deprive-verbs, with their use of "of", which seem rather strange.は、It is 〜 which ...の「強調構文」
  • apart from
    〜はさておいて
  • privative
    (形)奪取する、剥奪する
  • be used to doing
  • 〜することに慣れている
  • overlook
    〜を見過ごす

(帝京大学教授 Christopher Barnard)

次回掲載予定1月23日

 

 今回もdeprive型の動詞について、そのバリエーションと考え方、そしてマスター法を解説しています。

マーク No. 099 The use of the word "of" with deprive-verbs (Part 2)
      --- deprive型の動詞の用法に関する注意点(その2)

In the last Column, I briefly discussed the privative meaning of "of".

Some examples of the privative use of "of" follow below. (I think that many readers will have learnt these uses as idioms, without thinking of them as related to each other, and with an underlying privative meaning.) Here are the examples:

No one knows what became of the explorer.
(その探検家がどうなったのか誰も知らない)
She is a young lady who comes of a good family.
(彼女は良家の血筋を引く令嬢だ)
Unfortunately, nothing came of the experiment.
(残念なことに、その実験かは結果が出なかった)
You can dispose of any old books you find in this room.
(この部屋で見つけた古い本は何でも処分してください)
He delivered himself of this opinion.
(彼がこの意見を述べたのだ)
I absolve you of all responsibility.
(あなたのすべての責務を解除します)
I am willing to free you of all your debts.
(あなたの借金をすべて免除するにやぶさかではない)
I cleared the path of the snow.
(私はその小道の除雪をした)

As readers will have noticed, the last four sentences above follow the pattern, and have the basic meaning, of deprive-verbs (i.e., rob someone of something).

I think that these examples show that "of" has a privative meaning--but one which is not as obvious as the privative meaning of "from". But if we look at the following two sentences, which basically have the same meaning, we can see that both "of" and "from" can be privative in meaning:

I cleared the path of the snow. (> I robbed him of the pen)
I cleared the snow from the path. (> I stole the pen from him)

To master the use of deprive-verbs the key points are to understand the privative meaning of "of", and to master the word order.

Notice that the word order of "rob" (i.e., a deprive-verb) is different from the word order of "steal" (which is not a deprive-verb):

I (1)robbed (2)him of (3)the pen.
I (1)stole (3)the pen from (2)him.

I (1)cleared (2)the path of (3)the snow.
I (1)cleared (3)the snow from (2)the path.

● Words & Phrases ●
  • briefly
    簡単に、手短に
  • ... follow below
    ...は以下の通りである
  • think of A as B
    AをBと考える
  • underlying
    裏に潜んだ、潜在的な
  • deliver oneself of
    〜(意見など)を述べる

(帝京大学教授 Christopher Barnard)

次回掲載予定1月30日

 

 「覚えている/思い出す」など、「記憶/思い出し」に関わる動詞には、remember, remind, recall, recollectなどをご存知と思います。しかし、それらを正しく使い分けることができますか? 「記憶」と「思いだし」は私たちの日常生活の根本をなし、それらに関わる英語を正しく使い分けることも、英語学習の必須事項と言えるでしょう。

マーク No. 100 Some verbs of "memory" (Part 1)
      ---「記憶」に関する動詞の使い分け(1)

There are quite a few verbs of "memory" which can be confused in meaning. Also, they have different grammar patterns. I want to look at four of these verbs in this Column and the next one.

(1) remember

(a) 覚えている・思い出す
In this meaning, "remember" can be used with or without an object:

I can't remember (his name).
(私は(彼の名前を)思い出せない)

It is often followed by a wh-clause, that-clause, or ~ing:

I remember where he lives/that he lives in this street.
(私は彼が住んでいる所を/彼がこの街に住んでいることを覚えている)
I remember coming here before.
(私は以前ここへ来た記憶がある)

(b) 忘れずに...する
In this meaning, "remember" is used with ~ to do:

Please remember to take your keys with you.
(忘れずにカギを持って行きなさい)

However, if the situation is clear, we can just use the noun as the object:

Please remember your keys.
(カギを忘れないで)

(2) remind

(a) 思い出させる
As the Japanese translation makes clear, "remind" in this meaning is like the causative of "remember" in (1) (a) above:

I reminded him. = I made him remember/I helped him to remember.
(私は彼に思い出させた)

A common pattern here is "remind someone of something", as in:

You remind me of your mother. (= You [= Your face, etc.] make me remember your mother.)
(あなた[=顔など]を見るとあなたの母親を思い出す)

(b) 気づかせる
There a quite a few patterns with this meaning. Example sentences follow:

I want to remind you of the mistake you made.
(あなたの犯した誤りについて気づかせてあげよう)
I will remind you about tomorrow's meeting.
(明日会議がありますからね、念のため)
I must remind you to come on time tomorrow.
I must remind you that you must come on time tomorrow.
(念のため言うが、あしたは時間通りに来るように)
Do I have to remind you where you are?
(どこにいるかわかっているの?)

● Words & Phrases ●
  • quite a few
    かなり多くの
  • causative
    使役動詞

(帝京大学教授 Christopher Barnard)

次回掲載予定2月6日

 

 

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