The breeding ground

去澳門旅行時見到呢張告示。

同上次一樣，今次都係 dangling modifier 嘅問題。

原句：
To avoid becoming the breeding ground of mosquitoes and bacteria, [p]lease do not throw food.

想檢查自己嘅句子有無出現 dangling modifiers，首先係要搞清楚句子嘅 main clause 同埋佢嘅 subject。

呢度嘅 main clause 係 “[p]lease do not throw food”，而佢嘅 subject 係一個省略咗嘅 “you”。

大部份情況下，英文係唔容許句子無 subject 的，所以點解中文可以話「落雨喇」而英文要講 “it’s raining”、中文可以話「有棵樹喎」而英文要講 “there’s a tree”，呢度嘅 “it” 同 “there” 叫做 dummy subjects（dummy 即係時裝店門口做 display 嗰啲假人），佢地係句子裡面係唔帶任何意思的，純粹為咗 satisfy 英文嘅 grammar rules 而存在。

而例外情況，亦即今次嘅 main clause 點解可以省略咗嗰 “you”，係因爲 “[p]lease do not throw food” 係一句 imperative sentence，亦即祈使句。

imperative sentences 嘅例子包括 “shut up”, “keep calm and carry on”, “don’t use the lift in case of fire” 等等，佢地嘅特點係以 verb 開頭而唔係以 subject 開頭，呢種句式多數用黎下命令或俾指示，而且一定係「我」向「你」講，所以個 subject “you” 可以省略。

搞清楚 main clause 嘅 subject 係 “you” 之後，好容易就會發現前面嘅 “to avoid becoming the breeding ground [...]” 意思上係無可能修飾 “you” 的，詳細可以睇返呢個 post，呢度唔重複。

改返岩：
To prevent the breeding of mosquitoes and bacteria, please do not throw food.

改好啲：
Keep the environment clean. No littering.