「Therefore」:從「化石」變成常用副詞

 


上星期 (here),我解釋了副詞「therein」和「thereof」可被視為現代英文中的「化石」。它們已很少出現,用法上也被具同等意思的介詞組「in that」和「of that」取代了。


後來我想起,其實有一個同類的「化石」的副詞,在現代英文中不僅仍被頻繁地使用,更演變成,有了自己固定的詞義。


那副詞就是「therefore」。


副詞「therefore」在現代英文中還是很常見的。與「thereof」和「therein」的字形組成方式一樣,「there」是語境中某東西的代名詞,而「fore」其實就是介詞「for」。(這個跟現時的「for」不同的字形,也反映出「therefore」是「化石」這點。)


「therefore」和「for that」都有相同的意思,這跟「thereof / therein」和「of that / in that」有相同意思是一樣道理的。


大家可能大概知道,介詞「for」整體而言,會表達類似於中文的「為了(後面那名詞組)」/「因為 (後面那名詞組)」的意思。


因此,「for」介詞組經常會被用以表達「目標」或「目的」,例如:


I did this for her

我是為了她 / 因為她而做這事的


同樣地,「therefore」本來的意思也是「為了 / 因為某東西」。至於那「某東西」是甚麼,則視乎代名詞「there」在語境中所對應的內容。


不過在現時英文中,這副詞卻以一個具「固定」意思的用法出現。


也就是說,現在我們使用「therefore」,表達的就是固定了的「因為這樣」或「因此」的意思。我們已不會再特別視它為一個需要在語境中被清楚識別出來的副詞。


例如:


They chose the wrong course of action. Therefore, they now have to face the consequences.

他們選擇了錯誤的行動方針,因此,現在必須面對後果。


本來,「therefore」中的「there」會代表語境中的某事物,就像上述例子中,前面句子描述的一整個行動,即「the fact that they chose the wrong course of action」


「therefore」原本表達「因為『他們選擇了錯誤的行動方針』,現在要面對這後果」


但在現代用法中,我們可以直接把「therefore」視作表達固定意思「因此」的詞彙,而無須特別思考那個「there」在語境中對應的是甚麼。


「thereefore」中的代名詞「there」和介詞「fore」的部分,已經失去了原來的文法功能。


現時,這一整個詞彙的意思是「因此」,只要記得這個就可以了。


還有一點要注意的是,這種修飾子句中核心動詞的副詞,通常會被移前到子句的開端,例如:



They chose the wrong course of action. Therefore, they now have to face the consequences.

他們選擇了錯誤的行動方針,因此,現在必須面對後果。


這裡的「therefore」就是在第二句的開端位置。但請緊記它是一個副詞,而非連接詞。


就如這例子所示的,它完全屬於第二句的結構之內,並不是把兩組句子相連的連接詞。


因此,根據一般的標點用法習慣,會先以句號完結第一句,再用「therefore」開始下一組句子;或者選擇使用分號(也同樣顯示上一組句子在結構上已完結):



They chose the wrong course of action. Therefore, they now have to face the consequences.


They chose the wrong course of action; therefore, they now have to face the consequences.


我們最好不要在以「therefore」開始的句子之前加逗號,因為它不是連接詞,而是第二組句子內部的副詞:


They chose the wrong course of action, therefore, they now have to face the consequences. ❌


當然,標點符號的使用是約定俗成的,每個人都可能有不同的風格和習慣。


但一般而言,我會傾向教導學生跟隨那些可以使句子結構在書寫時更清晰的習慣。如果在這種情況下把逗號加在「therefore」前面,會將句子的結構「錯誤」地分割開。


因為「therefore」結構上完全是屬於第二組句子的,兩句之間本來就沒有任何東西連接,所以這裡選用句號(或分號)會比較清晰一點。


假如中間有連接詞的話,當然就另當別論了:


They chose the wrong course of action, therefore, they now have to face the consequences. ❌


They chose the wrong course of action, and, therefore, they now have to face the consequences. ✔️


像這樣,在「therefore」前放逗號反而保持了句子的結構,因為兩句之間還有「and」這個連接詞存在。


這同樣也應用在副詞「however」身上。


它是副詞,不是連接詞。因此我們若看見像這樣的句子:


He was happy with the plan. However, she was not. ✔️


He was happy with the plan, however, she was not. ❌


在第二個例子中,因為放了逗號,使「however」看起來像是相連兩組句子的連接詞,但事實並非如此,它只是第二組句子的結構的一部分。


因此,我會建議你參考第一句的做法,使用句號作分隔。


____________

“Therefore”: A “fossil” that became a common adverb


Last week (here), I explained that adverbs like “therein” and “thereof” are “fossils” in modern English that are rarely used now, having been “replaced” in common usage by their prepositional phrase counterparts like “in that” and “of that.”


It occurred to me afterwards that there is one such adverb that, despite also being a “fossil,” has become commonly used in modern English and gained a fixed meaning.


That adverb is “therefore.”


The adverb “therefore” is quite common in modern English. Its form is the same as “thereof” and “therein” -- the “there” is a pronoun referring to a noun phrase in context, and the “fore” is actually the preposition “for.” (We can see that the form is a “fossil” even from this “old” spelling.)


In other words, “therefore” has the same meaning as the prepositional phrase “for that,” just like “thereof” and “therein” have the same meanings as “of that” and “in that,” as I explained before.


The preposition “for” can express many different shades of meaning in relation to the noun after it, but the overall meaning that it expresses is similar to “為了 / 因為 X” in Chinese.


So, prepositional phrases with “for” are often used to express “purpose” or “intention,” like:


I did this for her

我是為了她 / 因為她 而做這事的


In the same way, “therefore” originally means “為了 / 因為 X"  and what the “X” is depends on what is being referred to by the pronoun “there” in context.

However, this adverb has entered common usage with a “fixed” meaning.

What this means is that, when “therefore” is now used, the meaning expressed is the fixed one of “因為這樣” or “因此." We no longer treat the “there” in the word as an “active” pronoun that we need to identify clearly in the context.


For example: 


They chose the wrong course of action. Therefore, they now have to face the consequences.

他們選擇了錯誤的行動方針,因此,現在必須面對後果。


Originally, the “there” in the word “therefore” stands for something in context. For example, in this example, the “there” would be standing for “the fact that they chose the wrong course of action” -- that is, the entire action mentioned in the previous sentence.


“Therefore” originally expresses that, for this ‘entire action mentioned in the previous sentence’, they now have to face the consequences.” 


But in modern usage, we can just treat the whole word “therefore” as expressing the fixed meaning of “因此” without thinking about what the pronoun is referring to in context.


As this word became a common adverb, the original parts of “there” (pronoun) and “fore” (preposition) have lost their original functions.


The word as a whole now means “因此.” You can just remember it this way.


One more point to note about this adverb is that it is an adverb that modifies the core action of an entire clause and is often “topicalized” (moved) to the front of the clause, like:


They chose the wrong course of action. Therefore, they now have to face the consequences.

他們選擇了錯誤的行動方針,因此,現在必須面對後果。


The “therefore” is topicalized to the front of the second -- but always remember that it is an adverb and not a conjunction.


As in, if we take this example, it belongs entirely within the structure of the second sentence. It is not the conjunction that connects these two sentences together. 


Because of this, in terms of punctuation convention, we would either first end the first sentence with a full stop and then start the next sentence with “therefore,” or use a semicolon (which also indicates that the first sentence has ended structurally): 


They chose the wrong course of action. Therefore, they now have to face the consequences.


They chose the wrong course of action; therefore, they now have to face the consequences.


We would preferably not put a comma in front of a sentence that starts with “therefore” since the “therefore” is not a conjunction but rather an adverb within the second sentence: 


They chose the wrong course of action, therefore, they now have to face the consequences. ❌


But, of course, as I have mentioned before, punctuation use is just about conventions. There are different “styles” and habits.


In general, however, I tend to teach students to follow the conventions that do allow us to make the structure of sentences easier to read in writing. In this case, using a comma in front of “therefore” would “carve up” the sentences in a “wrong” way in terms of their structure since “therefore” is part of the second sentence, and there is nothing “holding” these sentences together. Using a full stop (or semicolon) would indicate this much more clearly. 


Of course, if there is a conjunction linking these sentences together, then it would be different:


They chose the wrong course of action, therefore, they now have to face the consequences. ❌


They chose the wrong course of action, and, therefore, they now have to face the consequences. ✔️


Having a comma before the sentence with “therefore” is now in keeping with the structure of the sentences because there is the conjunction “and” linking them together.


You should pay attention to the same thing with the adverb “however” as well!


It is an adverb and not a conjunction, so if we have two sentences like this:


He was happy with the plan. However, she was not. 


He was happy with the plan, however, she was not. ❌


The comma in the second example wrongly suggests that the “however” is a conjunction linking these two sentences together when it is not. It is actually part of the structure of the second sentence, so I would advise you to use a full stop like in the first example.


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