In sickness and in health

「無論順境或逆境、富有或貧窮、健康或疾病，我將永遠愛你、珍惜你，直到地老天長。」（For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.）這是談何容易的誓詞！美國有對新人做到了，男友去年因病要切除四肢，她依然不離不棄，而且已於今年五月共諧連理。

"For better or for worse", "for richer or for poorer", "in sickness and in health", "to love and to cherish"這四組短語的共通點，就是都用了對偶結構（parallel structures）。寫英文句子，適當運用parallel structures很重要。Parallel structures將特定的語法形式（grammatical form）在句子中重複，使意念並列，句子結構清晰，增加可讀性（readability）。

例如，應該寫I would rather earn a living than receive financial aid.（我寧願謀生，也不接受財政援助。）而不是I would rather earn a living than financial aid。要重複「動詞+名詞」這個結構。

細心的寫作，一定要留意句子是否需要用parallel structures。當然，不建議每句句子都用parallel structures，文章的句式種類（sentence variety）亦很重要。

（本欄逢周一、三、五刊登）