homework 指的是學生的回家作業, 通常是寫的和讀的
但 assignment 基本的意思是別人交付, 有待完成的工作或任務
所以像老板叫你完成的事也是 assignment
電影裡的特務被政府派去從事暗殺行動也是 assignment
老師所給的 assignment, 有時不一定是寫或讀的
有可能是要去查資料, 或是觀察紀錄什麼東西, 參觀展覽, 做美勞等
這些都是 assignments, 但就不是 homework
所以 homework 是 assignment 的一種, 可是 assignment 不見得一定是 homework
學校裡的作業可以叫 homework assignment
就是用前面的名詞 homework 來修飾後面的 assignment
字面上的意思就是 “homework 形式的 assignment”
另外在文法上, 注意 homework 是不可數名詞, 但 assignment 可數
所以不能說 I have many homework today.
只能用 I have a lot of homework today. (much 一般不會用在肯定句的 ”很多”)
要問人家有多少功課, 也只能說 How much homework do you have today?
而不能用 how many
assignment 是可數名詞, 所以可以加數字, 用複數及 many 來修飾
例如: The boss gave me two assignments.
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