6 Basic Sentence Structures

1. subject + verb
He drives to his office

2. subject + verb + complement
He is a good football playerHe is good at football.

3. subject + verb + object
They ride bicycles to school.

4. subject + verb + object (indirect) + object
He showed me a new short cut

5. subject + verb + object + complement
It makes our teachers sad.

6. subject + verb + object + preposition + noun/pronounSomebody patted me on the shoulder.
They provided him with a room just for his own use.He had not informed me of his accomplishment earlier.I congratulated him on his achievement.

Verbs 1 基本 -- 翻譯通症狀

香港學生有好多都患上「翻譯通症狀」。即係當正英文係由中文演變出呢咁，中文句構，英文字。呢啲「爛英文」係因為學生無認真學習英文句構，有機會接觸英文時 ( 如看英文劇或電影 )，耳仔關掉，只用眼睇中文字幕。

一個 BB 仔學母語時會眼定定睇清楚口型，擘大耳仔聽清楚，再吖大口試講「嫲」。唔多似喎，再呢。眼定定睇清楚口型，擘大耳仔聽清楚，再吖大口試講「媽」。得咗！大人又會笑作鼓勵，於是又不停地講「媽 ...... 媽 ...... 媽 ...... 」鞏固記憶；全家人，朋友，親戚 ...... 不停咁刺激 BB 求存嘅模仿系統。好快 BB 已經可以駁嘴駁舌啦！

大個咗，大腦己有邏輯思維，可以以聯繫方式學習同記嘢。 BB 求存嘅模仿系統會漸漸消失。於是學習要有系統。但系多接觸及多練習先能反應自然同快。

I am very much agree with you. 呢啲咁嘅「翻譯通症狀」就唔會出現。

I	am	very much	agree	with you.
我	系	非常	同意	你。

老師成日講 Subject (主詞) + Verb (動詞) + Object (受詞) / Complement (補語) 有冇記低？--> 冇。因為老師成日講，駛乜記？但系同學有冇唸過你唔去記，唔去練，老師就要成日講。講得多，厭嘞，淨系話同學錯。

「咁點錯呢，你又唔講。」
「What？講咗 eight thousand times 喎。subject + verb + object 喎。呢到有兩個 verbs 喎。」
「，系喎。好似好熟喎。咁我唔識英文嘛。一時唔記得啫。」「你究竟系咪認真想學英文？要我講幾多次先記得？我一次過講夠佢嘞。如果我每重復一次你比 5 蚊我，我發咗啦！」
「學呢揾食咋。有冇快速學英文？」
「你 practise 多啲密啲咪快啲囉。有捷徑，無人唔識英文啦！你揾個鬼佬鬼婆做你老竇老母，扭計要錢都要講英文，包你兩個禮拜就會英語會話！」「唓！」

Verbs 3 -- Main vs Helping

	作 Main Verb (MV)主要動詞時	作 Helping Verb (HV) 輔助動詞時 (無字意)
be(am, is, are, was, were, being, been)	Linking verb「是」之意	1. (現在／過去) 進行式 Continuous Tensesubject + (be) + V-ing (present participle 現在分詞) ... e.g. Mary is/was eating her lunch.2. 被動話態 Passive Voicesubject + (be) + V (past participle 過去分詞) ... e.g. John is/was punished by the teacher.
have (have, has, had)	Action verb「擁有*」之意 *「有」在中文除「擁有」之外，還有「存在」的意思。而英語中「存在」要用 be 。e.g. There is a dog. --> A dog is over there. 真正的 subject 並非 there 而是 a dog 。	(現在／過去) 完成式 Perfect Tensesubject + have/has/had + past participle 過去分詞 e.g. He has/had been taking care of the poor dog for a year.
do(do, does, did)	Action verb「做」之意	只限主要動詞是 action verb 時： **若句字本身已有輔助動詞時，就直接將原有的輔助動詞取代 do 之位置。 1. 構否定句 negative formsubject + do/does/did + not + MV (infinitive 原型) ... e.g. Mum did not cook dinner.      Sue cannot ride a bike.2. 構問句 question form(question word) + do/does/did+ subject + MV (infinitive 原型) ...e.g. Why does Tom wake up so early?      Can Cindy play football?

Verbs 2 基本 -- 種類

		作用	例
可作主要動詞	Linking Verbs連接動詞	告訴你主詞「是」什麽	be, become, feel
	Action Verbs 動作動詞 及物 transitive verb 不及物 intransitive verb	告訴你主詞「做」什麽	sit, learn, close
不能單獨成句	Helping Verbs 輔助動詞	輔助作疑問句、否定句、不同時式或話態。本身無字意。	be, have, do
	Modal Verbs 情態動詞	表示情況或心情	can, must, have to

最簡單句型：

	Subject + verb + complement (noun)	Subject + verb + complement (adjectives)
e.g.	Susan is a teacher. 現在式Peter was her husband. 過去式	I feel happy. 現在式She was happy. 過去式

	Subject + verb (intr.)	Subject + verb (tr.) + object
e.g.	He signs. 現在式We stopped. 過去式	He hits the ball. 現在式They ate the pizza. 過去式

每一個部分都可以唔此一個。

多 subjects： Tom and his brother run to the hill. Tom 及 his brother (復數) 都作 run 這個動作，所以 run 無須加 s。

多 verbs：Panda eats, shoots and leaves.* Panda 不單只吃 (eats)，也開槍 (shoots) 及離開 (leaves)。分開 3 句即 Panda eats. Panda shoots. Panda leaves. 三個動作分亨同一個 subject  Panda，所以每個動作都必須加 s。

多 objects：Panda eats shoots and leaves.

[* 作者Lynne Truss 一書 Eats, Shoots, & Leaves 2003 我在 Toronto, Canada downtown Marche 傍一間書店列為 best-seller。封面有一熊貓爬上梯又有一熊貓揸槍。攪咩呢？攞呢睇吓。話說一熊貓到餐廳吃了件三文治就開槍離開。侍應實感奇怪，於是攔住熊貓問佢點解要咁做。熊貓比一本百科個書佢睇。侍應揭到 panda 嗰頁：

A panda walks into a café. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and proceeds to fire it at the other patrons. “Why?” asks the confused, surviving waiter amidst the carnage, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. “Well, I’m a panda,” he says at the door. “Look it up.” The waiter turns to the relevant entry in the manual and, sure enough, finds an explanation. “Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.”

話說一熊貓到餐廳吃了件三文治就開槍離開。侍應實感奇怪，於是問熊貓佢點解要咁做。熊貓比一本百科個書佢睇。侍應揭到 panda 嗰頁：熊貓是一隻像熊的黑白色哺乳動物，原產自中國。物們吃竹及竹葉。但無端瑞响 eats 同 shoots 之間多了個「，」即係本來作 objects 嘅 shoots 同 leaves 變成多個動詞 --> 吃、開槍及離開。]

Fair Trade

I was stopped by a university student (U.s.) outside IFC Starbucks. She asked if I could help her on the "Fair Trade" survey (of course in Chinese).

It isn't hard to understand what "fair trade" is but to what extent does "fair" go?

U.s.: Have you heard of the term "fair trade"?
Me:   Sounds familiar. May have heard.
U.s.: Do you have any idea what it means by "fair trade"?
Me:   The name says it all. No rocket science.U.s.: Do you know that Starbucks buy those coffee beans at a very low price from farmers?Me:   That's how business is done. To lower the basic cost as much as possible.
U.s.:  But if there's some cafes that sell coffee under "fair trade" conditions, would you rather buy coffee from there?
Me:   Well, as a consumer, it's coffee that I want. If they sell good coffee, plus under "fair trade" conditions, that would be perfect. But I wouldn't buy coffee from a coffee shop solely because it joins the Fair Trade. To the customers, if the quality of the product is bad, fair or not, doesn't matter anymore.
U.s.:  That's it. Thank you.

Stupid questions eh!? They have a perfect world in their mind. What's wrong buying primary material at a lower price? If farmers are deprived and coffee beans are bought at a price that barely covers the cost of production, this is a problem. Honestly, if Starbucks join the Fair Trade, I am more than glad and guilt-free to buy their a little bit more expensive coffee.