生活英語對話 Episode 39: A friend of a friend

本單元是關于朋友的朋友的對話

Helen:Well, you see, I have this friend. And, she has a problem. She saw a friend of hers doing something wrong and now she doesn't know what to do. If she reports him, he'll know it was her and probably won't ever speak to her again. But if she doesn't report him, he'll just get away with it.

Prof. Lewis:What do you think your 'friend' should do?

Helen: I haven't got a clue!

Prof. Lewis:Well, you can tell your 'friend' that I'm very suspicious about someone's unusually high test score recently and I also overheard some very worrying comments about photocopying being 'very easy'.

Helen: Really?

Prof. Lewis:Yes really. Now what's your friend of a friend's name?

Helen: It's ...it's John.

Vocabulary:(詞匯)

get away with something:(僥幸逃脫)

to do something wrong or illegal and not get caught or found out

本單元語言點是省略號，請看下面關于省略號的用法和例句

Apostrophes

Uses:(用法)

We can use an apostrophe (') to:

1. show possession, show that something belongs or is owned by someone.

Someone's high test score

Your friend's name

2. show a contraction show where a letter has been missed out when words are shortened

He'll know it was me (He will)

If she doesn't report him (does not)

Possession:(所有格)

If it's a singular noun, the apostrophe goes before the 's'. It doesn't matter if thing or person owned is singular or plural

The boy's shirt = one owner, the boy

The doctor's patients = one owner, one doctor

If it's a plural noun, the apostrophe goes after the 's'

The boys' shirts = more than one boy or owner

The doctors' patients = more than one doctor or owner

If it's an irregular plural noun, the apostrophe goes before the 's' The men's newspapers

The mice's footprints

If a noun ends in an 's', we usually put the apostrophe + s after the first 's'

James's house

Dennis's friends

Although this rule is flexible and nowadays you might see:

James' house

Dennis' friends

Another exception to this rule is with literary or classical references:

Dickens' novels

Socrates' writings

If the context is clear, we don't always have to mention the thing that's owned:

Is that my pen or Paul's? = Paul's pen

That top is my sister's = my sister's top

We don't use an apostrophe to show possession with these determiners:

mine - That's mine

yours - I've got my money, have you got yours?

his - Those shoes are his

hers - That bike is hers

its - My dog isn't well, its temperature is very high

ours - That house is his and that one is ours

theirs - Don't touch those cakes, they're theirs and they don't like to share

Contraction:(縮寫)

The apostrophe is used to show where a letter or letters have been left out:

She hasn't replied to my letter = has not

He's my brother = is

We can make contractions with:

1. nouns and pronouns

She's a teacher

There's nobody here

2. auxiliary verbs (would, could, will, should) as well as sometimes with be and havewhen they aren't being used as auxiliary verbs:

They would've come if you'd invited them = would have/you had

I haven't got any money = have not

We can't use double contractions in English:

'She'sn't from France' is wrong.

Instead we'd say 'She isn't from France' or 'She's not from France'