《流利英文的秘密》
叔叔：由今個星期開始，蕭叔叔的明報專欄由biweekly改為weekly，逢星期一刊出，今次大檸樂。
【明報專訊】蕭叔叔成日同學生講：Conquer the small words, and you’ll conquer the language. 學英文，最難學的，係 is am are was were，of for in at with 這類小字，而不是望落去高深，又長又難讀的字。小字通常有連接意念的作用。好多人學講英文，唔係識字唔夠多，而係唔識將意念串連起來，流暢地表達。
譬如我想講：今日要同大家講我最鍾意嘅課題－正確學習 small words 的重要性。英文唔流利嘅人，可能重點字眼都講得足，就係聽落去唔流利，broken，disjointed。錯誤示範：
Today I talk about something I love. It is important to learn small words
這句就是怪，而且不像說英文的人說話。這句蕭叔叔會怎樣說？假如不怕長氣，場合又唔太formal的話（說話不同書寫，說話假如太少廢字，聽落去反而唔自然）。蕭叔叔示範：
Today it’s a bit of a lovely one for me in that I’m talking about the importance of learning small words, and how it’s gonna contribute to your fluency. It’s something that I’ve been obsessed with since I started teaching English.
唔係話咁樣講先叫做好，因為好多人會認為廢話太多，語氣又不夠肯定（如 a bit of a），and this is only one of the countless number of ways to say the same thing，BUT，咁樣講，的確是正常，自然，流利嘅 informal 英文口語。要聽蕭叔叔開口示範，請 follow the link below：
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hP4FNDKO6hI&feature=youtu.be
分析一下。A bit of a 是日常口語常用 expression，尤其英國人愛用。In that 意思大概就是「因為」。留意 how it’s gonna contribute to your fluency，這是個 noun phrase，通常用正常詞序，而不用問句的詞序（how is it going to）。留意其中 it’s，a，bit，of，a，one，for， in，that，I’m，about，the，and， how，gonna，to，something，with，since，就是我所謂的 small words。要英文說得流利自然，一定要 conquer 這些小字的用法，反而長字，深字，content字，不難學。
再給大家一個例子。英國首相，保守黨的 David Cameron 最近拍了段短片，講英國新的稅務政策。一開首佢咁講：
Today is called Money Back Monday, and the reason for that is that some of the most important tax and pension changes come into place today in the new financial year. And there’re two that I think are particularly important.
又係時候學 small words。大家知道要留意的字啦？is called，and the reasons for that is that，some of the most，come into place，in the，and there’re，that I think are particularly。這些，才是學習的重點。Again，要聽蕭叔叔示範，follow the link below：
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hP4FNDKO6hI&feature=youtu.be
那，small words 怎樣學？多聽多講就可以了嗎？錯。假如身不在全英文的環境，只靠多聽多講，不會進步。聽之餘還要動動腦筋，用腦分析，思考，點解呢句說話要咁講，點解呢度要放呢個字。唔好再只看深字長字啦，remember：Conquer the small words, and you’ll conquer the language。蕭叔叔話嘅。
文︰蕭愷一
作者簡介
蕭愷一，aka蕭叔叔。夢想做男神、現實是大叔的英文教學狂熱分子，law grad，哲學碩士dropout，語言學愛好者，以speak English like an educated native為教與學的終極目標。
蕭叔叔的Facebook專頁《蕭叔叔的英文學會》 ：https://www.facebook.com/unclesiu
formal informal words 在 160 Informal and Formal Words List in English - Pinterest 的八卦
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