[误] I need a lot of clothing.
I'm going to make a new cloth.
[正] I need a lot of cloth.
I'm going to make a new dress.
[析] cloth是"布"、"布料",没有复数形式。一块布料是a piece of cloth, 而clothes统指衣服,是复数名词,"一套衣服"要讲a suit of clothes, 如果是"一件件衣服"应讲shirt, dress, sweater等。而clothing是衣物的总称,是不可数名词。例如:This clothing is needed in warm countries.Her clothes are made of fine cloth.英语中的dress是指比较正式的服装,如a school dress(校服),a student dress(学生套装),a working dress(工作服)
。
coffee
[误] Please give me two waters.
[正]
Please give me two coffees.
[正] Please give me two cups of water.
[析] 虽然coffee, water, tea等都是物质名词,但是只有coffee可用coffees取代若干杯coffee,而其他的却不行,其前要加a cup of或a glass of.
colour(color)
[误] Colours of flowers are red, yellow and white.
[正] Flowers are red, yellow and white.
[析] 中文的"花的颜色有红色、黄色和白色",若译为英文Colours of flowers are…,就显得重复了。
[误]
I like green colour.
[正]
I like green.
[正] I like colour green.
[析] colour green中的colour是green的同位语,所以这种说话方式英语是可以接受的。
come