李明會
摘 要:多年來定語從句都是學生難以掌握的語法難點,本文主要對定語從句的概念,關系詞的運用以及注意事項等方面進行簡單闡述。
關鍵詞:大學英語;定語從句;教學
經(jīng)過多年的教學,筆者發(fā)現(xiàn)學生對定語從句很難掌握,現(xiàn)對定語從句的以下方面進行簡單描述:
一、 概述
在復合句中修飾名詞或代詞的從句叫定語從句。被定語從句修飾的名詞或代詞叫先行詞;引導定語從句的詞叫關系詞,關系詞又分關系代詞(who, whom, whose, which, as, that)和關系副詞(when, where, why)。定語從句又有限制性定語從句和非限制性定語從句之分。限制性定語從句一般是主句中所修飾的名詞不可缺少的定語,如省去,主句的意思就不那么明確或完整。非限制性定語從句一般只是對主句中所修飾的名詞進行附加說明,如省去,主句意思仍然完整。非限制性定語從句與主句之間常用逗號分開。eg:
Jerry was the kind of guy (whom) you love to hate. (Unit 1 A,Book 3)
One of the boys kept laughing,which annoyed Jane intensely.
二、 關系詞的運用
關系代詞在定語從句中作主語,賓語,表語或定語,關系副詞在定語從句中用作狀語。
who指人,在定語從句中作主語,不能省略。eg:
Tom is the boy who studies hardest in our class.
whom指人,在定語從句中作賓語或表語,在限制性定語從句中可省略。eg:
The man whom I wanted to see was away on holiday.
whose指人或物,在定語從句中作定語。eg:
The other day I met a man whose brother I went to school with.
which指物,在定語從句中作主語,賓語或表語,作賓語或表語時,在限制性定語從句中可省略。eg:
Did you see the letter which came today?
that可指人或物,在定語從句中可作主語,賓語或表語。作賓語或表語時,在限制性定語從句中可省略。eg:
Gerry works for a company that makes typewriters.
when指時間,在定語從句中作時間狀語。eg:
I will never forget the days when we spent together in the countryside.
where指地點,在定語從句中作地點狀語。eg:
This is the place where I hid the key.
why指原因,在定語從句中作原因狀語。eg:
...there were very compelling reasons why it could not be done. (Unit 6 B,Book 3)
which和that都可用來指物,一般可替換,但以下情況指能用that,而不能用which。
A. 先行詞為all, everything, nothing, something, anything, little, much等不定代詞時。eg:
I am sure Mary has something (that) you can borrow.
B. 先行詞被all, every, no, any, much, little, some修飾時。eg:
I have read all the newspapers (that) you gave me.
C. 先行詞被序數(shù)詞修飾時。eg:
This is the first book (that) I have ever read.
D. 先行詞被形容詞最高級修飾時。eg:
This is the most beautiful park (that) Ive ever seen.
E. 先行詞被the only, the very, the last修飾時。eg:
This is the very dictionary (that) I want.
F. 先行詞為人和物并列時。eg:
They talked for an hour of things and persons (that) they remembered in the school.
G. 當主句時以who和which開頭的特殊疑問句時。eg:
Who is the boy that is singing a song over there?
Which of us that knows something about physics does not know this?
H. 主句是There be...句型,且主語是指物的定語從句。eg:
There is a place that is still unknown to people.
I. 先行詞為time,常用that(可省略)。eg:
This is the last time (that) I will give you a speech.endprint
三、 注意事項
1. 關系代詞whom, which 在定語從句中作介詞的賓語時,可以跟介詞一起放在主句和從句之間;為了使關系代詞緊跟它所修飾的先行詞,也可把介詞放在從句中有關動詞的后面。但含有介詞的固定短語動詞一般不拆開,介詞仍放在動詞后面。eg:
This is the room in which we lived last year.
或:This is the room which we lived in last year.
The baby whom the nurses are looking after is very healthy.
2. 在非限制性定語從句中,不能用that。指人作賓語用 whom,作主語用who;指物用which。eg:
The student, who spoke first, sat in the front of the classroom.
The teacher, whom my mother is talking to, is our Chinese teacher.
The water, which is not clean, should not be drunk.
3. 關系代詞不僅能代替單詞,還能代替句子。如主句在前,被替代的句子在后,要用as;如主句在后,被替代的句子在前,可用as或which。eg:
As we know, he studies very hard.
My father has decided to giving up smoking, as/which made us very happy.
4. 注意下面兩個句子中定語從句中謂語動詞的單復數(shù)形式:
He is one of the best students who study hard in our class.
He is the only one of the students who studies hard in our class.
總之,定語從句中關系詞取決于以下方面:
A. 是限制性定語從句,還是非限制性定語從句。
B. 是代單詞,還是代句子;是指人,還是指物。
C. 在句中的功能,即在句中所作的成分。
參考文獻:
[1]21世紀大學實用英語綜合教程 3.復旦大學出版社.
[2]21世紀大學實用英語綜合教程 4.復旦大學出版社.endprint