I have written emails about my reading habits before and shared with you books that I found rewarding to read. Today, I want to share this funny Instagram post from The New York Times Book Review that I stumbled upon yesterday. (There is a grammatical point below too.)
The post is about how, on the book review website Goodreads, where ordinary readers share their thoughts on and review books they have read, there is now a new “shelf” called “Did Not Finish (DNF)”—a space where readers can share the books that they started reading and then put down (and maybe explain why).
According to the post, the addition of this new “DNF shelf” to the review site has apparently sparked lively discussions again between the “camp” of readers who are comfortable with “DNF-ing” books that they start and the “camp” of readers who are not comfortable doing so.
The “DNF camp” uses arguments like “life is too short for bad books!” as justification for putting down books that do not engage them from the start, while the “anti-DNF camp” says things like we should always “give books a chance to redeem themselves by the end.” 😂
I find this “spat” between the two “camps” amusing because I have always been firmly, squarely, 100% in the “anti-DNF” camp. 😂 It has been a personal habit for as long as I can remember: I do not ever stop reading books that I start. It is a matter of principle for me, hahaha. 😂
This “principle” has, on occasion, brought frustration, especially when I start books that are really long but whose tone or style I find grating from the first page. 😂 But, still, I am “proud” to say that I have never “DNF-ed” a book in my life.
There is also a point of interest about the term “DNF” from a grammatical perspective.
“DNF” is an “acronym,” which means that it is a term made up of the first letters of its component words—“did not finish.” What is grammatically interesting about this acronym is that it is actually a finite verb form and would normally be the core finite verb of a clause, for example in “I did not finish this book.”
However, since this acronym has become a slang term, it has undergone a grammatical transformation and taken on the role of a new verb in its own right rather than a finite verb form—with “DNF” as the infinitive form. Because “DNF” now functions as a new verb by itself, we can form sentences with it by changing its form, like in the first sentence in the post:
There are plenty of reasons to DNF.
…in which the verb “DNF” is in the infinitive phrase “to DNF.”
Or:
I am not okay with DNF-ing a book.
…in which the verb “DNF” is in its gerund noun form, “DNF-ing.”
Or:
I have never “DNF-ed” a book in my life.
…in which “DNF” is the main verb in past participle form in the finite verb “have DNFed.”
This is a fun example that shows us how new terms and words become integrated into the grammatical architecture and framework of a living and evolving language.
我之前寫過一些關於自己閱讀習慣的電郵，也跟大家分享過一些我覺得讀完很有得着的書。今天，我想分享昨天偶然看到的《紐約時報書評》一個很好笑的 Instagram post。（下面也有一個文法重點。）
這個 post 說的是，在 Goodreads 這個書評網站上，現在新加了一個叫做「Did Not Finish（DNF）」的「書架」。Goodreads 是一個讓普通讀者分享自己對讀過的書的看法和書評的網站，而這個新的「書架」，就是讓讀者分享自己開始讀了、後來卻放下沒有讀完的（即「did not finish」的）書的空間，他們也可以順便解釋原因。
根據這個 post，網站新增了這個「DNF 書架」之後，似乎再次引發了兩個讀者「陣營」之間的熱烈討論：一邊是覺得開始了一本書之後，中途「DNF」是完全沒有問題的讀者；另一邊則是不太能接受這樣做的讀者。
「DNF 陣營」會用「人生太短，沒有時間讀爛書！」之類的論點，去把放下一本由一開始就無法吸引自己的書合理化；而「反 DNF 陣營」則會說，我們應該「給一本書機會，因為它在完之前都可能會變得好看」。😂
我覺得這兩個「陣營」之間的「爭執」很好笑，因為我一直都非常堅定、明確、100% 屬於「反 DNF 陣營」。😂 這是我從有記憶以來一直都有的個人習慣：我開始了的書，就絕對不會中途停止閱讀。對我來說，這是一個原則問題，哈哈哈。😂
這個「原則」偶爾也會令我很煩，尤其是當我開始了一本很長的書，但由第一頁開始就已經覺得它的語氣或風格很煩厭時。😂 不過，我仍然可以很「自豪」地說：我這輩子從來沒有「DNF」過任何一本書。
從語言學和文法角度來看，DNF 這個 term 也有一個很有趣的地方。
DNF 是一個所謂得 acronym，也就是由組成它的幾個單字的第一個字母組成的縮寫——did not finish。這個 acronym 在文法上有趣的地方，是 did not finish 本身其實是一個限定動詞字形，正常情況下會是子句中的核心限定動詞，大家應該能看出，例如：
I did not finish this book.
我沒有讀完這本書。
不過，這個 acronym 成為一個「新字」之後，就經歷了文法角色上的轉變：它不再只是一個限定動詞字形，而是變成了一個本身獨立存在的「新動詞」，以 DNF 作為基本動詞字形。
因為 DNF 現在本身是一個新的動詞，所以我們可以改變它的字形，用它組成不同的句子。就像這個 post 中的第一句：
There are plenty of reasons to DNF.
有很多理由可以令我們把開始了的書放下，不再讀完。
這句中的動詞 DNF，出現在基本動詞組 to DNF 之中。
又例如：
I am not okay with DNF-ing a book.
我不能接受開始了一本書之後，中途放下不再讀完。
這句中的動詞 DNF，是以是動名詞字形 DNF-ing 出現。
又例如：
I have never DNF-ed a book in my life.
我這輩子從來沒有開始了一本書之後，中途放下不再讀完。
這句中的 DNF 是主要動詞，在限定動詞 have DNFed 中以過去分詞字形 DNF-ed 出現。
這是一個很有趣的例子，讓我們看到新的 terms 和字怎樣融入一個不斷演變的語言本身的文法框架之中。例如，它會變得可以加入英文文法中不同的常規動詞字尾，如「-ing」和「-ed」。