【英文謬誤】in no time是有空?還是沒空?

claire y. w.
Office English
Published in
3 min readApr 1, 2019

打電話給同事,結果同事聽起來正在忙,想問他何時會有空。

“When will you be free?”

結果對方匆忙中說了一句

”I’ll be free in no time.”

就掛了電話了。這句話意思到底是有空還是沒空?
答案是:很快、馬上very soon、very quickly,在幾乎無法計算的時間內in very little amount of time的意思

I’ll finish this paragraph in no time. 我馬上就要寫完這個段落了。
The trip can be made in no time. 這趟旅程馬上就能出發。

另一組容易搞混的時間用法

in time vs on time差別是什麼?

in time 是及時,「在許可範圍內」,尚未到最後一秒都還來得及、剛好壓線。on time是準時,「在既定時間上」,不早也不晚。

Cancer can be curable if discovered in time.
癌症如果及時發現是可以被治療的。
He always starts meetings on time. 他總是準時開啟會議。

像這樣看起來容易搞混的時間英文,可以從英文概念下手,英文思維中,把時間的片段「具象化」:

時間是「有邊界的容器」
有裡面in、有外面out。
I hope we can meet in the future.
He only worked there for a short period of time.
I saw a kid standing at the window in the middle of the night.

時間是實質的物體
可以擁有、拿取、花費、節省。
Do you have time?
How long does it take to go to New York From Sydney?
Don’t waste your time.
We don’t have much time left.
They’re running out of time.

時間有動能
「經歷過的」時間或事件,看做離我們遠去(fly、go),「尚未經歷的」看做往我們的方向走來(arrive、approach、come)。
Time flies.
Time passes so quickly.
The deadline is approaching.
My birthday is coming.

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claire y. w.
Office English

A pro-am educator, a grounded dreamer, a daughter and a magazine editor. This is Claire’s flipped English studio.