enough 用法, 例句, 詳解

enough 用法1 (enough time/ time enough)

問：《朗文英語正誤詞典》(安徽科技出版社版, p. 118) 和《朗文常用英語正誤詞典》(上海譯文出版社, 1994, p. 101) 認為下列句子是錯誤的:

【錯】 As they were busy, they did not have time enough to talk to her.
而必須改為:
【對】As they were busy, they did not have enough time to talk to me.
但是我認為第一個有關enough 用法句子是可以接受的。

答：enough 用作形容詞時, 既可放在名詞之前, 也可放在名詞之後, 即使後面有動詞不定詞作形容詞時, 也是如此, 只是放在名詞之前的情況更為常見一些(但是不能放在某些由名詞轉類而來的形容詞, 如fool 之前) 。下面的例句完全可以證明enough time to do 和time enough to do 的說法都是符合英語慣用法的。

1. We have enough money to buy a car.
   我們的錢足夠買一輛汽車。
2. “I’m going to the movies.” “Do you have money enough ?”
   “我要去看電影。”“ 你的錢夠嗎?”
3. They were not allowed time enough for sports and recreation.
   沒有足夠的時間讓他們運動和娛樂。
4. There was (enough food / food enough) to last a whole year.
   有充足的食物, 夠吃一整年的。

enough 用法2 (fool enough)

問：I was enough fool to believe her.(我真是太傻了, 竟然相信了她。) 形容詞enough 可以放在名詞前, 也可以放在名詞之後, 為什麼說上面的句子有錯誤呢?

答：當名詞為不可數名詞時, 充當形容詞的enough 用法既可放在名詞之前, 也可放在名詞之後:

1. We have enough money (money enough) for John to buy a car.
   我們的錢足夠約翰買輛汽車。
2. There’s enough food (food enough) for everybody.
   有足夠的食物供大家吃。

當可數名詞為複數時, enough 也是可以採取兩個位置的(名詞前或名詞後) :

1. We have enough seats for everyone. 我們的座位夠所有人坐。
2. Have you had peanuts enough? 你有足夠的花生嗎?

但是, 你所問的句子中的fool 只是貌似名詞, 實際上是由名詞轉類而來的形容詞, 故, enough 只能放在它的後面:

1. I was fool enough to believe her. 我真是太傻了, 竟然相信了她。
2. He wasn’t man enough to admit his mistake. 他沒有承認錯誤的大丈夫氣概。
3. He was fool enough to go out without a coat. 他真傻, 竟然不穿大衣就外出了。

enough 用法是不能與單數可數名詞搭配的, 所以, 我們既不能說enough pen, 也不能說pen enough。