“周末”应该说at the weekend还是on the weekend?
100词口语社群里面有同学问到了一个问题:周末应该说at weekends还是on the weekend?
实际上这两个说法都是正确的,但是存在英式英语和美式英语的区别。在美式英语中“周末”说成on the weekend或者on weekends,而在英式英语中说at the weekend或者at weekends。注意“周末”不能说成at/on weekend或者at/on the weekends
另外如果weekend与each/every/this/that/last等词连用,那么就不能再加介词,比如我们要说:He plays football every weekend. 而不能说:He plays football on every weekend.
又比如我们应该说:Last weekend we rented a villa in Portugal. 而不能说:In last weekend we rented a villa in Portugal.
英式英语和美式英语存在不少区别,其中一个重要区别就在于介词的使用。除了weekend搭配的介词不同之外,还有几个常见词。比如表达“上学”这一概念,英式英语只能说at school,但美式英语可以用at/in school,对此,《韦氏高阶英语词典》里面有一个很经典的例句:
(US) My parents won't let me get a job while I'm in school. = (Brit) My parents won't let me get a job while I'm at school. [=while I am a student in a school]
又比如在表示街道名的时候美式英语通常说on XX Street,而英式英语说in XX Street,比如:
She lives on 17th street near Dupont Circle. (US)
She lives in 17th street near Dupont Circle. (UK)
英国媒体BBC有一篇文章标题就是:Christmas comes early for shoppers in Oxford Street
要表达“从周一到周五”以及“从三月到五月”这类时间段,美式英语经常用介词through,比如“我周一到周五上班”,美式英语说:I work Monday through Friday. 而英式英语则用to,即:I work Monday to Friday.
要表达“A与B不同”,英式和美式英语中都可以说A is different from B,但除此之外,美式英语还可以说A is different than B,英式英语说A is different to B,这也是一个比较有特色的用法。
The old house looks different from what I remember. = (Brit) The old house looks different to what I remember. = (US) The old house looks different than I remember.
除了上面这几点外,还有一些小的用法区别,比如在足球和篮球等比赛中,美式英语中说play on a team,而英式英语则是play in a team;“填表格”美式英语是fill out a form,英式英语是fill in a form。对于这些小细节点,平时遇到了也可以多积累。
我们最近推出了“新概念英语三写作社群”,通过对新概念3中一百多个经典句型的反复练习来提升遣词造句能力,社群明天开班,需要提升写作的同学欢迎参加:如何通过仿写新概念英语三提升写作水平?
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