Re: [請益] 大家都怎麼增進自己英語寫作能力

: 他們會超費事的要求你檢查它修過的所有細節。
: 那是我第一次發現，
: 他把我所有「while」（然而）都改成「whereas」。
:
: 我當時很納悶，
: 這兩字真的不通用嗎？
: 因我不是第一次講「然而」，
: 所以拿起以前發表的期刊論文來複習檢查一下，發現：
:
: 原來我這輩子寫過的while都被期刊偷偷改成whereas了！
:
: 之後，當我跟美國亞裔前老闆合寫paper時，
: 我也每次都很費事的把他的while改成whereas……
:
: ※ 編輯: ballII (1.163.185.238 臺灣), 09/18/2020 14:49:34
: → Sulstan: 雖然while和whereas都是連接詞，但是while語意成分+telic 09/18 15:56: → Sulstan: 所以編輯會改成whereas是能理解的。我有老師也堅持只有 09/18 15:57: → Sulstan: 時間訓前後關係才能用since代替because 09/18 15:57: 推 machinly: 大概領域別有差吧 我們寫的 while 沒有被改 09/18 16:43:
: APA規範有說明轉折語氣避免用while：
: https://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/y.shimazu/APAexamples.html
:
: → machinly: 因為 whereas 會變另一種敘事法 09/18 16:44: → machinly: 有時會用 whilst... 是說我昨天看到指導教授用 amongst 09/18 16:45: → machinly: 還去查了一下到底跟 among 有什麼差別.... 09/18 16:45
第一次看到建議將While改成Whereas。Oxford學習字典對於While的定義包含
2. "used to contrast two things"以及3. "although; despite the fact that"
明顯與whereas是同義字，那為何會有人建議改掉，這時候就需要查Usage

首先，查線上版的American Heritae Dictionary，"while"列了一個Usage note:

Usage Note: As a conjunction, "while" is used to indicate that two events arehappening at the same time (While I was preparing the hamburger patties, she
sliced the onions and tomatoes), but it can also be used to contrast two
clauses in a nontemporal way (While the "h" is silent in the word "honest,"
it is pronounced in the word "hostile"). "While" has been used in this
nontemporal sense for hundreds of years, and the latter sentence was judged
acceptable by 75 percent of the Usage Panel in our 2012 survey. The Panel wassomewhat less accepting, however, of this use of "while" in a sentence where itcould potentially be misread as having a temporal meaning (31 percent
disapproved of the sentence She said she wanted to go to a movie, while he
proposed seeing a play). And 43 percent disapproved of a sentence in which
the two contrasting clauses are explicitly not simultaneous: While the Tigersbeat the Cubs last week, this week the Cubs beat the Tigers. To avoid
ambiguity or an unintended suggestion of simultaneity, choose a different
conjunction, such as "although" or "whereas".

可見，使用while作為對比是完全沒問題的，只要語意足夠明確，不要讓讀者誤以為
是「當....,同時...」的意思就好

另外，根據Garner's Modern English Usage（這本書在美國被視為usage權威），我節
錄他對於while與wheras的說明：

WHILE: "while" is a more relaxed and conversational term than "although" and
"whereas", and it works nicely when introdicing a contrast. ... Though the
use is quite proper, writers must be on guard for the occastional ambiguity.

WHEREAS: One usage critic has state: "'Whereas' sounds stuffy. in spite of
the objections of some grammarians, the common word now is 'while'". Yet
"whreas" is better than "while" if the latter ambiguously suggests a time
element.

可見，只要使用while不會讓讀者誤以為你在談的是時間，用while完全沒問題，甚至
是更好的，因為whereas太笨重，不夠口語。

至於WHILST，這是英式英語舊的用法，Garner建議在美式美語不要用。

我猜測APA可能是擔心作者不小心使用while導致語意不清，乾脆一律改用whereas。但
最好去瞭解背後的道理，而不是一律要求這麼做。Usage的問題已經跳出文法與定義。
問題往往是如何避免語意混淆，避免不必要的誤解。還是建議大家要有幾本工具書，有
問題就拿出來查。

--