Recently, Today/that day, Yesterday/the day before

1. Recently

英文的「recent」或「recently」(最近),意味『從過去到現在』,多用於「現在完成式」來表達,而不是現在式。

Recently I’ve not been well.
It has been raining recently.

中文的「最近」,卻可以表示『過去』或『未來』的事。

(1)表示「未來」
I am going to move in two months. (我最近兩個月要搬家)
(2)表示「過去」
I have been to Hong Kong in the last two months. (我最近兩個月去過香港)
2. Today/that day, Yesterday/the day before

此外,「昨日」、「明日」等確切時間點,在中文使用時並沒有嚴格的規定,但用於英文中的間接說法時,時間副詞就得另作考量,
因為無法確知「說」的時間。

時間表示方式對照表
TodayThat day
YesterdayThe day before
TomorrowThe next day
This yearThat year
Next week/yearThe following week/year
Last week/yearThe week/year before

如果把時間用數線表示:

yesterdaytodaytomorrow
the day beforethat daythe next day
last week/yearthis week/yearthe following week/year
the week/year beforethat week/yearthe week/year before
  • 瑪麗告訴他們她昨天把書寫完了
Mary told them she had finished writing her book the day before
主要子句              名詞子句作「間接受詞」

(當瑪麗告訴他們這件事情時,她已經把書寫完了,可知「把書寫完」這個動作先發生,因此用「過去完成式」來表達。又因為不能確定「告訴」的時間,只知道是「寫完」的前一天,因此時間副詞用the day before。)

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