Grammar Police的盲點
經濟學人專欄作家Robert Lane Greene說：
If you say “It’s not you, it’s me,” you are probably a native speaker of English or someone with a good command of how native speakers actually speak. If you say “It’s not you—it’s I,” you will quickly achieve the goal of making the other person not want to spend any more time with you.
說得真好。蕭叔叔也經常同學生說，不同場合會有不同的文法規則。換句話說，what reads natural in a legal document would sound exceedingly strange in a daily conversation with a friend.
可以說，寫legal documents是一set的rules，同老友吹水是另外一set，寫小說是一set，寫academic journal又是另一set，搞亂了就會奇怪，除非你係故意想達到字句同場合不相稱的特別修辭效果（英式comedy常用）。
有些所謂文法專家就是不理解，以為同一set規則幾時都啱用，堅持什麼時候都要說「To whom are you talking?」才是正確，不能說「Who are you talking to?」那是搞錯了。如果日常這樣說話，肯定遭人白眼。
我們學英文，一定要細心觀察how the language is actually used by native speakers in different contexts，再慢慢模仿，不能只靠學校老師教的一set規則用到老。
講完。
蕭叔叔
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