I n an English-language radio interview last week, Cheung Bing-leung said although the government had allowed Kowloon Motor Bus to raise fares, it had also made sure the bus company was managed in a good way. He said: "We have to make sure the company has strived to manage itself properly." To strive to do something means to try very hard to do something. The past tense can either be "strived" or "strove" but Cheung Bing-leung used "strived" as a past participle. The past participle is "striven". Strictly speaking, he should have said: "We have to make sure the company has striven to manage itself properly."
However, using "strived" instead of "striven" is very common nowadays and is considered acceptable. What is not acceptable is to use "hided" as the past tense or past participle of the word "hide" but that is what senior superintendent Tse Ho-yin of the Correctional Services Department did in an English-language radio interview. To hide something means to put it in a place so other people cannot find it. The past tense is "hid". In his interview about prisoners hiding things that they use for gambling, Tse Ho-yin said his department had cameras to "search those articles hided in upper places." He should have said "hidden in upper places." Tse Ho-yin's English is not very good but I give him full marks for having the guts to speak it. Other government officials should follow his example.
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在上一篇專欄，我寫到立法會議員郭榮鏗混淆了renegade和renege這兩個字。它們的串法很類似，但有着迥然不同的意思。A renegade（名詞）就是變節或背叛自己國家的人，動詞renege則解作不信守或違反承諾。操流利英語的郭榮鏗指責中央政府違背（reneging）自己對香港的承諾，但錯用了renegade一字。運輸及房屋局局長張炳良也是個操流利英語的人，但帶港式口音，不像郭榮鏗那樣，口音半港式半英式。
在上星期一個英語電台訪問中，張炳良指出，即使政府允許九巴加價，仍然確保巴士公司管理良好。 他說：「我們會確保公司已竭力（strived）管理好業務。」To strive即是努力地做好某事，它的過去式是strived或strove，但張炳良就用了strived作為過去分詞，但它的過去分詞應為striven。嚴格來說，他應這樣說："We have to make sure the company has striven to manage itself properly."
不過，用strived而非用striven，在今天是很普遍的，也被認為是可接受的。不能接受的是以 "hided" 作為hide這個字的過去式或過去分詞，然而，這卻是懲教署懲教事務高級監督謝浩然在英語電台訪問裡說的。To hide something就是把物件藏起來，不讓人發現，這個字的過去式是hid。在有關囚犯收起物件用作賭博的訪問中，謝浩然指他的部門有攝錄機去「搜索在高處所hided的東西」，但他應該說 "hidden in upper places"。謝浩然的英文不算很好，但我給他滿分，因他夠膽去說。其他政府官員應以他為榜樣。mickchug@gmail.com
中譯:七刻
Michael Chugani 褚簡寧
Source: http://news.stheadline.com/dailynews/headline_news_detail_columnist.asp?id=290097§ion_name=wtt&kw=126