從日常生活中學習 #1:「subject X to Y」

 

我的教學宗旨，一向強調理解外語文法框架的重要性。這樣我們才能將日常生活中遇到的各種例子，作為系統性的學習資源，使外語水平快速提升。

這做法既可以夠鞏固我們的文法框架，同時又能擴大詞彙量與用法的知識，絕對是個正向的循環。

而終極的目標，是讓我們可以有效、準確地表達出所有需要表達的意思。

如果不是在文法框架內學習單字和不同意思的表達方式，便無法穩健和有系統地實現這目標。

只要我們認識了像課程中所教授的那種整體框架，自然就懂得對身邊一切遇到的英文例子（是的，確實是一切的例子 ），都以系統性的思維去學習到些甚麼。

今後在標籤為「從日常生活中學習」的newsletter中，我會用自己在日常生活中遇見的句子、詞組、標點用法、單字等等作為切入點，向大家展示如何透過我們的框架來學習。

這一次，我先用近期閱讀過，一則澳洲地理雜誌中的文章標題為例子：

「Scientist deliberately subjects himself to the world’s most painful stingers」

(Marshall, Candice. “Scientist deliberately subjects himself to the world’s most painful stingers.” Australian Geographic via Newsela. Edited by Newsela Staff, Version Max, 9 Oct. 2023, https://newsela.com/view/clkjw3a3p000i3b6asx9fiwnq/?levelId=clkjw2e9v37sa08nf0t0kde11, Accessed 11 Oct 2023.)

文章講述的是一位科學家，研究為甚麼被蜜蜂螫傷會那麼痛。

套入我們的框架，大家能從這標題中學到甚麼？

不如來學習一下「subject」（使到遭受 / 使到面對某待遇）這個動詞吧。（留意：當它是動詞時，在發音中重音位於第二個音節，即 「subJECT」/sʌb’dʒɛkt/）

說用這個標題學習這個學詞，即包括學習它在此語境中所表達的意思，以及它在表達這層意思時有哪些文法特徵。

標題是指「這科學家故意讓自己面對世界上螫人最痛的蜜蜂」。

大家可以透過我們的框架，對句子中的這個動詞做一個簡單的分析。

這句中的動詞「subjects」是finite verb（限定動詞），與主語「scientist」相配合。

我們會看到它連接了一個 direct object 名詞（直接賓語） – 即這裡的「reflexive pronoun」（反映主語自身的代名詞）「himself」。

我們從而得知這動詞表達這意思時，是需要 direct object 的。這 direct object 是那個「被主語令到遭受或面對某對待」的人或物。

這裡，主語「scientist」故意令到「himself 自己」要「面對世界上螫人最痛的蜜蜂」，即故意讓自己被它們螫傷。

最後，我們看到「himself」後面還跟隨一組修飾語「to the world’s most painful stingers」。

這是由preposition「to」引出的 prepositional phrase 修飾語，由「to」加名詞組一起組成（「the world's most painful stingers」，即「世界上螫人最痛的蜜蜂」，是名詞組）。

意思上，這個「to」preposition phrase 中的名詞，就是那個「面對的東西」。

所以，我們可以從這標題中學到：

動詞「subject」配合 direct object 名詞，以及固定的「to」prepositional phrase 作為修飾語（可想成「subject X to Y」，「X」「Y」都是名詞組），意思便是「使到 X 遭受或面對 Y」。

我們也可以從標題和文章的語境（「科學家故意讓自己面對世界上螫人最痛的蜜蜂」 ）之中看出，那個「待遇」或「面對的東西」都並非好事情，而是偏向是負面的。

現在我們有系統地學習了這動詞的意思和文法特徵，可以嘗試用它來組成更多句子了。

例：These open water swimmers willingly subject themselves to icy waters every morning in winter.

The coach subjected his athletes to a tough training program.

原本例子也教會了我們，當這動詞的 direct object 名詞與整個句子的主語相同時，我們應該使用「reflexive pronoun」（反映主語自身的代名詞）。

例：The scientist subjected himself…

These open water swimmers subject themselves…

今天，試試找一個你看到的例子，簡單分析它的結構和意思，看看從中可以學到甚麼吧。

下次，我會再於此系列中分享其他學習範例。

小練習：

用「subject」作動詞寫句子，表達以下意思：

a.

The teacher subjected _______________________________________.

這個老師安排了讓她的學生面對一個很難的考試。

(進階：加入「為了測試他們這兩個月學了甚麼」作副詞）

b. 

The experimenters will subject _____________________________________ .

實驗人員將會把實驗室老鼠放到嚴酷的環境中。

(進階：加入「第三次」作副詞）

_______________

(English Version) 

Learning from Daily Life #1: “subject X to Y”

My teaching philosophy is that understanding the grammatical framework of a foreign language is important because, once we do, we can use every daily example we encounter as “input” to learn systematically and improve quickly. 

This forms a positive feedback cycle that allows us to consolidate the grammatical framework while expanding our vocabulary and knowledge of usage.  

Ultimately, the goal is to communicate all the meanings we need to communicate effectively and accurately. 

We cannot reach this goal steadily and systematically if we don’t learn words and ways of expressing different meanings within the framework of grammar. 

Once we have the overall framework like the one taught in the course in place, we can learn something from everything – absolutely everything – we see in a systematic way.

In this newsletter series I’m calling “Learning from Daily Life” going forward, I will use examples that I encounter in my daily life – sentences, phrases, punctuation usages, words, anything – as jumping-off points to show you what we can learn from them in our framework.

This time, I want to use this headline from an article from the Australian Geographic magazine I read recently: 

“Scientist deliberately subjects himself to the world’s most painful stingers”

(Marshall, Candice. “Scientist deliberately subjects himself to the world’s most painful stingers.” Australian Geographic via Newsela. Edited by Newsela Staff, Version Max, 9 Oct. 2023, https://newsela.com/view/clkjw3a3p000i3b6asx9fiwnq/?levelId=clkjw2e9v37sa08nf0t0kde11, Accessed 11 Oct 2023.)

This article is about a scientist who studies why bee stings are so painful. 

Using our framework, what is one thing we can learn from this headline?

Let’s learn about the verb “subject” here (pronunciation: the word stress is on the second syllable when it is a verb, “subJECT” /sʌb’dʒɛkt/), including what meaning it expresses in this context and what grammatical properties it has when it expresses this meaning.

The headline means that “this scientist exposes himself to bees with painful stings on purpose.”

Using our framework, we can do a simple analysis of this verb in this sentence.

The verb “subjects” here is the finite verb of the sentence, with the subject “scientist.”

And then, we can see that there is a direct object – the reflexive pronoun “himself.”

This tells us that this verb has a direct object. This direct object is the “thing” or “person” that is “subjected” to something, in this case, “exposed” to the “painful bee stings.” 

Finally, we can see that there is a modifier “to the world’s most painful stingers” following the direct object “himself.”

This is a prepositional phrase with the preposition “to.” 

So, from this headline, we can learn that the verb “subject,” along with a direct object and a fixed prepositional phrase with “to” as a modifier (“subject X to Y”), means “put someone or something in a situation so that they are exposed to something or given a particular treatment.”

We can also tell from the context of the headline and the article – the scientist getting stung by bees – that the “treatment” or “situation” that the direct object is “subjected to” is something negative or bad rather than something good.

Let’s try to form more sentences with verb, now that we know its meaning and grammatical characteristics:

e.g. These open water swimmers willingly subject themselves to icy waters every morning in winter.

      The coach subjected his athletes to a tough training regime.

The participants of the experiment were subjected to intense physical exercise to assess the impact on their cardiovascular health.

From the original example, we are also reminded that, when the direct object of a verb is the same as the subject of the whole sentence, we would use a reflexive pronoun:

e.g. The scientist subjected himself…

    

These open water swimmers subject themselves…

Try to learn something from an example you see today by briefly analyzing its structure and meaning. We will look at another example again together next time in this series. 

Mini exercise

Try to finish these sentences with the verb “subject” to express the stated meanings:

a. The teacher subjected ________________________________________ . 

這個老師安排了讓她的學生面對一個很難的考試。

(進階：加入「為了測試他們這兩個月學了甚麼」作副詞）

b. The experimenters will subject ____________________________________ .

實驗人員將會把實驗室老鼠放到嚴酷的環境中。

(進階：加入「第三次」作副詞）

_________

Answers: 

a. 

The teacher subjected her students to a hard exam.

(The teacher subjected her students to a hard exam to test what they have learnt in the past two months.)

b. 

The experimenters will subject the lab rat to a harsh environment.

(The experimenters will subject the lab rat to a harsh environment for the third time.)