City University of Hong Kong CLASS CLASS
Making Sense of Grammar
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"given that"和"providing that"是否可以互通?
asked Mar 5, 2018 in Questions about English Grammar by admin (25,520 points) | 47,694 views

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Given that 和 providing that 這兩個附屬連接詞表達的語意並不相同:

Providing that he has more time, he will do a better job.

→ On the condition that he has more time, he will do better.

在上句中,providing that 所表達的並非一件確切的事情,而是一個可能的條件,一個未知假設。在這個條件成立的情況下,他才會做得好。

然而,given that 卻是帶出「已知」的前提:

Given that he has more time, he did a wonderful job.

→ For the fact that he had more time, he did better.

在這個句子中,「他有時間」是一件確定的事,考慮到這個「已知的前提」,他一定會有好表現。

總而言之,given that 是用來標記已知事實,表示「有鑑於、考慮到」;Providing 或 providing that 則用來標記未知的條件或假設,意思是「如果、只是」。

answered Mar 5, 2018 by admin (25,520 points)

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