“Where Dreams Begin”: 夢想開始的地方

 

某天我行經一間音樂教室，看到門外的標語寫著： #Where Dream Begins ❌ 標語想要表達的，應該是「這是小朋友音樂夢想開始的地方」，但我卻注意到它在英文表達上有點不自然，所以今天來跟大家分享一下。 如果你上過我們的基礎課程，應該會知道在文法結構上，整個「where dream begins*」是一個「noun clause 名詞子句」。 我不打算在這裡詳細討論名詞子句的結構細節，因為這標語不自然的原因並不在於結構。 簡單來說，名詞子句是一種完整的嵌入式子句（embedded clause），整體會作為外層子句中的名詞角色。內部結構方面，會先由某些特定的代名詞和副詞引出（例如「what」、 「who」、 「where」等），表達諸如「XXX 的東西」 、「XXXXX 的人」、「XXXX 的地方」之類的意思。 當副詞「where」被用來引出名詞子句，整個名詞子句便會表達出「XXXXX 的地方」的意思。「的地方」前面的描述是什麼，則視乎該子句的「內容」或它表達的意思。 例如： This is where we eat. 這是我們吃飯的地方 [Where we eat] 是嵌入在外層子句[This is…]. 中的名詞子句。 「Where we eat」的名詞意思是「我們吃飯的地方」 -- 「我們吃飯 We eat」實行的地方。 當我們不是要說出/寫出完整句子，當然可以只拿這個名詞子句作為名詞使用。假如我想表達的是「我們吃飯的地方」，便可以只說「where we eat」。 因此，我說「#Where Dream Begins」這標語很不自然，並非因為結構問題，相反它作為名詞子句的結構是完全正確的。 使它感覺不自然的地方，是這裡用了單數的名詞字形「dream」作為主語，再配合簡單現在式的限定動詞「begins」來表達「夢想開始的地方」。 但自然的表達方式應該是： #Where Dreams Begin ✅ 英文的名詞，在文法上可分為「可數名詞」和「不可數名詞」這兩個文法類別，而「dream」正好屬於文法上的「可數名詞」。 當我們想要表達某「可數名詞」的「籠統」和「大範圍上」的意思時，會使用該名詞的眾數字形。 例如，這裡想表達出的籠統意思是「每個來這教室上課的孩子的夢想都在這裡開始」，那麼最自然的方式便是採用可數名詞「dream」的眾數字形，變成「dreams begin there」。 再舉兩個例子： iPhones are expensive. ✅  iPhone is expensive. ❌ iPhone 很貴 Dogs are loyal. ✅  Dog is loyal. ❌ 狗很忠心 再者，當這些可數名詞以單數字形出現時，基本上一定都會由某名詞標記標記的，如「a」、「the」、「my」、「this」這些，視乎意思所需。因此在原本的標語「dream begins」中，「dream」這可數單數字形在沒有名詞標記的情況下獨立出現是十分不自然的。 所以下次當你想表達「可數名詞」的籠統意思時，要記得這一點了。 （另一方面，文法上的「不可數名詞」不會以眾數字形出現。我們在表達其「籠統」意思時，會採用單數字形，例如「coffee tastes a little bitter」（咖啡是有點苦的）。與可數名詞不同，單數的不可數名詞在傳遞這些意思時並不需要由名詞標記引出。）

“Where Dreams Begin”: 夢想開始的地方 The other day, I walked past a music classroom with this tagline outside its door: #Where Dream Begins ❌ The meaning that this tagline is supposed to express is that this classroom is “where children’s dreams of becoming future musicians begin 夢想開始的地方” -- but I made a note of it because it is quite unnatural in English. I want to write a short newsletter about why today.  First of all, if you have taken our foundational course, you would know the whole tagline “where dream begins*” is what we would call a “noun clause” in terms of grammatical structure. I will not go into structural details about noun clauses here because the reason why this tagline is unnatural is not related to its structure. In short, however, a noun clause is a type of complete embedded clause that, as a whole, acts as a noun within an outer clause. Internally, noun clauses are introduced by various specific pronouns and adverbs -- like “what,” “who,” “where” etc -- to express noun meanings, such as “XXX 的東西,” “XXXXX 的人,” “XXXX 的地方” etc. When the adverb “where” is used to introduce a noun clause, the whole noun clause would express the meaning of “XXXXX 的地方.” What the “description” is in front of “的地方” depends on what the “contents” of the clause are, or what it is expressing.  For example: This is where we eat. 這是我們吃飯的地方 [Where we eat] in this example is a noun clause embedded within the outer clause [This is…].  The meaning expressed by “where we eat” is the noun meaning of “我們吃飯的地方” -- “the place in which the action of ‘we eat’ takes place.” When we are not speaking or writing in complete sentences, we can of course just take out the noun clause here to function as its own noun. As in, if we just wanted to express “我們吃飯的地方,” we can just say “where we eat.” So, as such, when I said that this tagline of “#Where Dream Begins*” is unnatural is not because of any structural problems with it being a noun clause. The structure of the noun clause is completely fine.  The part that makes it unnatural is the fact that the singular noun form of “dream” is used as the subject here, with the corresponding present tense, simple aspect finite verb form “begins,” to express the meaning of “夢想開始的地方.” The natural way of expressing this tagline is:  #Where Dreams Begin ✅ In English, nouns are grammatically categorized as so-called “countable” nouns and “uncountable” nouns. The noun “dream” is a grammatically “countable” noun.  When we want to express something “general” and “overarching” about a grammatically “countable” noun, we would use the plural form of that noun.  For example, here, since the point is to suggest the “general” meaning that “the dream of every child who takes lessons in this classroom starts here” -- the natural way of expressing this would be to use the plural form of the countable noun “dream,” and say that “dreams begin there.” Two other examples:  iPhones are expensive. ✅ iPhone is expensive. ❌ iPhone 很貴 Dogs are loyal. ✅ Dog is loyal. ❌ 狗很忠心 In conjunction with this point about using the plural form of grammatical “countable” nouns in “general” statements, when these countable nouns appear in singular form, they are basically never without a noun marker of some sort -- like “a,” “the,” “my,” “this,” or whatever the meaning requires -- so the fact that “dream” appears on its own without a noun marker in the original tagline “dream begins*” is also very unnatural.  So, try to remember this next time you try to express a “general” meaning revolving around a noun that is grammatical “countable.” (Grammatically “uncountable” nouns, on the other hand, don’t ever appear in plural form. We would use them by themselves in singular form when expressing similar “general” meanings, such as “coffee tastes a little bitter 咖啡有點苦.” Unlike countable nouns, uncountable nouns can appear by themselves without noun markers when expressing these general meanings.)