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多重定语从句的种类和特点
同时修饰一个先行词或先行短语,
或者分别修饰各自的先行词的两个或两个以上的定语从
句统称为多重定语从句
(multiple
attributive
clause)
。例如:
He was a man
whom all his friends admired and who won the
respect even of
his enemies.
他是个令其朋友全都钦佩的、甚至赢得其敌人尊敬的人。
He wants you to
know that anyone who chooses the path he has
chosen is sure
to have periodic
holidays in
jail.
他希望你了解,凡是选择了他所选择的那条道路的人,肯定会要定期地到监
狱里去度假的。
I am the infamous creature you have
heard of that lives among the thieves.
我就是你们曾经听说过的那个声名狼藉、跟盗贼为伍的女人。
以上第一句是由连词
and
连接的两个定语从句同时修饰其先行词
a
man
;第二句中的两个
定语从句“who
chooses
the
path”和“he
has
cho
sen”并不是同时修饰先行词
anyone
,而是第一个定语
从句修
饰其先行词
anyone,<
/p>
第二个定语从句修饰其先行词
(
即第一个
定语从句的宾语
)the
path;
第三句
的第二个定语从句“that
lives among
the
thieves”则不是
限制或说明第一个定语从句前的先行词
the infamous
creature,
而是限制或说明第一个定语从句的“先行词
+
定语从
句”,即先行短语“the
infamous
creature
you have heard
of”。现分别对多重定语从句的种类及其特点作一探讨。
A.
并列
式多重定语从句
(compound multiple attributive
clause)
这种从句的特点是,
两个或两个以上的定语从句由并列连词
and, or,
p>
but
等连接,修饰同一个先行词;通常定语从句要冠以关系词,以
明确其性质和修饰对象,也
就是说要重复使用关系词。关系词
可以相同,在从句中起同样功能,也可以不同,即在句中的
功能可以不一样。
例如:
This practice book is
intended for foreign engineers or students of
engineering
who have already mastered the elements
of English, and who now want to use
their knowledge
of the language to read books on their
own subjects.
这本实用书是为那些已经掌握英语基本知识,而现在想用
已学到的语言知识来阅读自己相关
科目的书籍的外国工程人员和工程专业学生而编写的。
Just consider
that we use hardly one hundred
there is
in
coal and
that could be extracted from it!
请想一想,储
藏在煤里并可以提取的热量,我们用的还不到十万分之一
!
The past progressive
is
chiefly used for past actions which continued for
some
time but
whose exact limit are not known and not important.
过去进行时主要用于表示持续了一段时间的,但其确切期限不清楚也不重要的过去的动作
。
thousandth of the heat
that
They wanted a prince whose
life was good, and who had not wronged any man?
猼
hough owing,
as I said, to their
jealousy to one another, they couldn't agree who
this
prince should be.
他们想要
有一个生活纯洁而又没有无礼对待任何人的君王——但据我所知,由于他们之间的
p>
相互嫉妒,他们不可能在这个王位谁个坐的问题上取得一致的意见。
重复使用关系词的目的主要是为了
对比或强调。在不影响修辞效果又不致引起含糊的前
提下,也
可以同时省略其中一个关系词。被省略的多为作宾语的关系代词,间或也可见到省略
作主语的关系代词的情况。例如:
The house (that) he bought
in 1968, and that he sold two years later, is
again on the
market.
1968
年他买的
那幢房子,两年后他卖掉了,而现在买主又要卖了。
He's the person (whom) I
meet at the club every day and whom I've invited
home to dinner
tonight.
他是我每天在俱乐部碰到的那个人,我已邀
请他今晚到我家进餐。
Apart from repeating sentences that
begin in the same way or (that) follow
similar structural
patteing, you can repeat
key words or phrases at various places within the
paragraph.
除了以同样的方法或者以相同的句
型结构重复句子外。你还可以重复本段里各处的关键性的单词
或短语。
一般来说,省略第二个定语从句中充当主语的关系词往往容易引起混淆。试比较:
The boy (whom)
Peter shared a flat with was a philosophy student
and wanted
to sit up
half the night discussing
philosophy.
与彼特同住一套房间的那位青年是学哲学的学生,他想熬到深
夜来讨论哲学。
Peter shared a flat with a boy who was
a philosophy student and (who) wnted
to sit up
half the night discussing philosophy. <
/p>
彼特与那位学哲学的学生住在一套房间,该学生想熬到深夜来讨论哲学。
< br>
上面第一例省略关系词意
义清楚,因为只能把
wanted
理解为与
was
并列,否则就不成句。
第二例省略关系词就引起意义含糊,即“a
boy
who
was…and
who <
/p>
wanted…”,也可把
wanted
理解为与
shared
并列,即“Peter
< br> shared?
璦
nd
wanted…”;如果要表示与第一句相同的意义,还是在
wanted
前重复一个关系词
who
为
?
谩
?
有时我们还可见到并列式多重定语
从句中省略相同的对应词语的例子,即这种省略不限
于关系词,也可以是定语从句中其他的相同部分。例如:
But of all the
views which his garden, or which the country or
the kingdom
could boast,
none was to be compared
with Rosings.
不管他庭园里的所有人,他的整个国家或王国,怎样吹嘘
其所有观点,还是没有一种观点可
以与罗辛斯相比。
When this game had been
played a great many times, a couple of young
ladies,
one of whom
was named Bet, and the
other Nancy, were called to see the young
gentlemen.
当这种游戏进行多次后,一个名叫贝特,另一个叫南希的两位女
士被召去见见那些年轻的绅
士。
以上第一例的第一个定语从句中,在
which his
garden
后省去了
could
boast;
第二例的
第二个定语从句中,在
the
other
后省去了
of whom
was called
。
在这种结构中,有时也可不用并列连词,而且逗号或分号将多
重定语从句隔开。当然,
这一般限于
and
连接的定语从句。例如:
Before the graves of those
how have fallen, whom we have not been able to
save, let us
say:“We
shall remember the
sacrifices of the
dead.”
在那些阵亡中,我们未能救活的战士的墓前,让我们说,“我们一定牢记死者所作出的贡
?
住薄
?
B.
链式多重定语从句
(chain
multiple attributive
clause)
链式多重定语从句也可称为
复合式多重定语从句
(complex
multiple
attributive clause)
。这种定语从句的特点是,第一个从句是整个
复合句中
第二层次
(
或第二代
)
的主句,而第二个是从句;
第二个从句的先行词包含在第一个从句的范围之内,即其先行词是第一个从句
中的动词宾语
或介词宾语。简言之,各个从句修饰的是各自的
先行词,而不是同时修饰一个先行词。例如: