图： A series of cooking Instructions are important in a recipe.

　　以第四波疫情为背景，近期我的学生撰写有关怎样减低大幅度市区爆发新冠肺炎的文章。

学生用了大量以Modal Verbs为主的Imperatives; such as, you should do this, we should do that, people must make it... 结果文章大部分篇幅好像是在指令 （instruct people）别人做他们已经知道的东西。

　　It is not an essay about giving advice to people who perfectly understand what they need to do，例如要戴口罩保持社交距离等等。Command也会有可能给别人有反感的印象，有损彼此关係。People are predisposed to view the tone of that kind of message negatively. 既然大家也知道这是要做的东西，那又何须再重複一次。

　　英文的句法千变万化，我们不需要用指令句才可以达到文章的目的。同学亦可以加添自己的创意，提醒公众人士警觉公众衞生的重要。例如，可以以下句式开首：

　　We can consider ...

　　People could suggest ...

　　Some social activities can be vigorously observed ...

　　另外，被动句（Passive Voice）也可以用作表达建议别人做的东西。例如：

　　The reason behind the action can be collected.

　　Wearing masks could be seen as a new norm for everybody.

　　条件句 （Conditional Sentences）也是一个不错的结构，例如：

　　It would be great if they could do this.

　　文字尽量正面，强调大家一起合作的好处。读者可以试试改写以下短句：

　　1)Clean your hands often. Use soap and water, or an alcohol-based hand rub.

　　2)Maintain a safe distance from anyone who is coughing or sneezing. Wear a mask when physical distancing is not possible.

　　3)Don't touch your eyes, nose or mouth. Cover your nose and mouth with your bent elbow or a tissue when you cough or sneeze.

参考句子：

　　 1) COVID-19 spreads easily from person to person through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, breathes or talks. It is especially important to wash our hands after we have been in a public place, or after blowing our nose, coughing, or sneezing.

　　2) Wearing mask in public settings is meant to protect other people if/in case you are infected. It is particularly important especially when other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.

　　Alas, true prevention is not waiting for bad things to happen, it's preventing things from happening in the first place.

Miss Carol

　　Email：carolc.english@gmail.com