本文將介紹 neglect, negligent, negligence, ignore, ignorant, ignorance, omit, omitted, omission. 用法及差異。
Neglect, Negligent, Negligence
neglect = to not give enough care or attention to people or things that are your responsibility = 疏忽失責。可以用來責怪他人,然而用來自責時特別好用,顯得相當 humble
- He neglects that poor dog – he never takes him for walks or gives him any attention. 他對那隻可憐的狗漠不關心——從不帶牠散步,也從不關心牠。
- She’s been neglecting her studies this semester. 她這個學期荒疏了自己的學業。
- He neglected to mention the fact that we could lose money on the deal. 他忘記提及我們做這筆交易可能會虧本。
- The judge said that the teacher had been negligent in allowing the children to swim in dangerous water. 法官說允許孩子們在危險水域游泳是教師失職。
- His injury was due to the negligence of his employers.
注意到這個字「被動」時,如上方影片中的 neglected children,意思會變成「被疏於照顧的」。
neglect 當名詞和 negligence 有什麼不同?從法律的角度來看,兩者的差異極大!基本上 neglect 是一種「故意」的 negligence。也就是說 negligence 是疏乎了自己的責任,而 neglect 當名詞時,指的是刻意疏乎自己的責任。很明顯 neglect 是嚴重觸法了,所以平常講話別不小心把 neglect 當名詞用了(文法雖對,但會被打!) reference: english.stackexchange.com
Ignore, Ignorant, Ignorance
ignore = to intentionally not listen or give attention to = 無視。這個字與 neglect 的差異在於有無「責任」。此外,因為 neglect 是失責的,所以正常來說意思是「疏乎」,然而 ignore 則是「刻意去無視」某件事情。舉例來說,筆者曾寫過:Please excuse my ignoring your message. => (X) 因為這麼寫好像筆者「刻意」去無視那段訊息。然而事實是筆者「有責任去注意卻未注意」,所以該改成:Please excuse my neglecting your message. => (O)
- She can be really irritating but I try to ignore her. 她有時會特別煩人,不過我盡量不去理會她。
- Safety regulations are being ignored by company managers in the drive to increase profits. 為了增加利潤,公司經理都對安全章程熟視無睹。
Ignorant/ignorance = not having enough knowledge, understanding, or information about something = 無知的/無知。注意到這個字它「意思大變」,與其動詞形態 ignore 的意思相差甚遠!可能是因為當我們去思考「為什麼某人一直無視某物」時,結論就是「無知」。
- Many teenagers are surprisingly ignorant about current politics. 許多青少年對時事政治無知得讓人吃驚。
- Public ignorance about the disease is still a cause for concern. 公眾對這個疾病的無知仍是一個令人擔憂的問題。
Omit, Omitted, Omission
omit = to fail to include or do something = 排除。雖然可能是「刻意」亦有可能是「不小心」,然而這個字只強調已經排除了、不存在了。
- She omitted to mention that she would be away next week. 她沒提及自己下星期不在這裡的事。
- She was omitted from the list of contributors to the report. 這篇報道的撰稿人中漏掉了她的名字。
- I omitted [=(more commonly) neglected] to mention that it was my fault. 可以看到字典裡的例句說,使用 neglect 更常見,這是因為 neglect 強調「我有責任去提」但是我沒有。而使用 omit 的話就只是描述一個沒有 mention 的客觀事實。