3.1 先行词和关系词

被定语从句所修饰的对象称为先行词
重复指代先行词、起连接主句和从句的作用,并且在定语从句中充当一定成分的连接词称为关系词。关系词有两个作用:
1、代词的作用:重复指代先行词并且在定语从句中充当一定成分
2、连接作用:即连接主句和从句

  • I don’t like people who never keep their word.

    3.2 关系词在定语从句中充当的成分

    关系词必须在定语从句中充当某种成分。

    3.2.1 关系词用作从句的主语(relative pronoun as subject)

  • The woman is a famous dancer and she lives next door.
  • The woman who lives next door is a famous dancer.

定语从句的谓语动词形式是由关系词所指代的先行词来决定的,而不是取决于关系词本身。

  • I like guys who have a good sense of humor.

3.2.2 关系词用作从句中动词的宾语(relative pronoun as object of verb)

  • I’d really like to find a friend and I can trust him completely.
  • I’d really like to find a friend… I can trust who completely. (who来替换him,来充当动词trust的宾语。又因为who有连词的作用,所以此时and就要去掉了)
  • I’d really like to find a friend who I can trust…completely.

3.2.3 关系词用作从句中介词的宾语(relative pronoun as object of preposition)

  • I’m talking about friends and you can share almost everything with them.
  • I’m talking about friends who you can share almost everything with.

3.2.4 作宾语的关系词可以省去

作宾语的关系词可以省去,不论关系词是作动词的宾语还是作介词的宾语都可以省去

  • I’d really like to find a friend who I can trust…completely.
  • I’d really like to find a friend ( )I can trust…completely.

    3.3 关系代词与先行词的搭配关系

    关系词可以分为两大类:关系代词(做主宾)和关系副词(做状语)。
    关系代词主要包括who,whom, which, that和whose,这些词主要起着代词的作用,在定语从句里充当主语或宾语(但whose作定语)
    关系副词则包括when, where和why,这些词主要起着副词的作用,在定语从句里充当状语
    image.png

    3.3.1 先行词指“人”,用关系代词who或whom

    who和whom的区别:
    1. who的前面不能与介词搭配使用

  • I’m talking about friends who you can share almost everything with.

  • I’m talking about friends with whom you can share almost everything.

2、whom在定语从句中不能作主语,但可作宾语或表语

  • A rich person is not one who has the most, but is one who needs the least.

    3.3.2 表示人或物的所有关系,用whose

    whose表示所有关系,其作用就如同物主代词my, your, her, his, their和our一样,whose的后面要接名词。whose可指人也可指物。“whose +名词”在从句中可作主语、动词的宾语或介词的宾语

  • I know a friend. His brother is a pop singer.

  • I know a friend whose brother is a pop singer.

    3.3.3 先行词指“物”,用关系代词which

    关系词which的造句结构完全类似于前面讨论过的who,比如which可以作从句的主语或宾语,只不过which的先行词是“物”

  • We are studying sentences. They contain adjective clauses.

  • We are studying sentences which contain adjective clause

关系词which所指代的先行词比较复杂,它除了可以指单个的名词外,还可以指代短语甚至是从句。
一、先行词是单个名词

  • Anger is a wind which blows out the lamp of the mind.

二、先行词是个短语

  • He likes climbing mountains, which is a good exercise.

三、先行词是个句子

  • Tom was late, which surprised me.

    3.3.4 that可以指代“人”,也可以指代“物”

    一是 that既可指“人”也可指“物”,即它指“物”时可以替换which,指“人”时可以替换who来使用;
    二是that不用在非限制性定语从句中(关于限制性和非限制性定语从句,详见3.5节);
    三是that不能用于介词的后面(同who一样)

一、that既可指“人”也可指“物”
Too many people spend money which they haven’t earned, to buy things which they don’t want, to impress people who they don’t like.

  • 当先行词中同时出现“人”和“物”时,用that
  • The writer and his novels that the article deals with are quite familiar to us.
  • 先行词为指“物”的all, little, few, much, none和the first时,用that
  • All that glitters is not gold.
  • This book contains little that is useful.
  • 先行词是不定代词something, anything, nothing和everything时,一般用that
  • I would much rather receive a gift that was unique or that I knew my friend had put some thought into than something that cost a lot of money but that I didn’t need or want.
  • 先行词被any, only, all, every, no, some, much, few, little,序数词,形容词的最高级,the only, the one, the very, the right和the last 等成分修饰时,用that
  • The very problem that I want to solve is like this.
  • that不用在非限制性定语从句中
  • I became a single mother overnight, which is nothing like becomingfamous overnight. (不能用that替换which)
  • that不能用于介词后面
  • The world in which we live is made up of matter.

    3.4 关系副词的用法

    引导定语从句的关系副词主要有when, where和why,它们在从句中分别作时间状语、地点状语和原因状语。(只做状语,不充当其他成分)

    3.4.1 when的用法

    一、先行词指时间
    I’ll never forget the day when I met you.
    My favorite season is spring, when the earth seems born again.
    二、关系副词when在从句中作时间状语
    若定语从句不是缺少状语,而是缺少主语或宾语,那么即使先行词是表示时间的名词,也不能用when而要用which或that来引导定语从句

  • I’ll never forget the time which I spent on campus. (spend缺少宾语)

  • I’ll never forget the day when we first met in the park.

    3.4.2 where的用法

    一、where的先行词指地点
    where引导定语从句,其先行词一般是表示地点的名词,如place和house等
    This is the town where I spent my childhood.
    二、关系副词where在从句中作地点状语
    若定语从句缺主语或宾语,则要用which或that引导定语从句

  • This is the town where I spent my childhood. (缺地点状语)

  • This is the town which I told you about before. (缺宾语)

    3.4.3 why的用法

    why用来表示原因,只引导限制性定语从句,先行词是reason等表示原因的名词。

  • This is the reason why I didn’t come here.

    3.5 限制性与非限制性定语从句

    在前面各节讨论的定语从句中,细心的读者也许发现了,有的先行词与关系词之间有逗号分隔,有的没有逗号分隔,这其实涉及定语从句的限制性(defining relativeclause)和非限制性(non⁃defining relative clause)之分。

    3.5.1 限制性定语从句——不用逗号隔开

    限制性定语从句是用来对一个名词提供必要的信息(a defining relative clause defines or gives essential information about a noun),若去掉限制性定语从句,则主句部分的含义不明确,或意义不完整,所以不能用逗号来分隔先行词和定语从句

  • There are two factors which determine an individual’s intelligence.

    3.5.2 非限制性定语从句——用逗号隔开

    非限制性定语从句用来提供附加的而非必要的信息,只是对先行词作进一步的解释、补充或说明(a non⁃defining relative clause gives optional information about anoun)。若去掉此定语从句,整个主句的意义一样很明确,不会引起误解和歧义。
    一般来讲,下面这两种先行词,其后都宜用非限制性定语从句。
    一、专有名词
    专有名词本身的意思已经很完整,不需要限制,用定语从句只是对它进行补充说明

  • My mother, who is 50 this year, lives with me now.

二、类指名词
普通名词若是用来表示类指,即表示的是一类事物,而非具体的某一个事物,此时,其后也宜用非限制性定语从句。

  • An elephant, which is the earth’s largest land mammal, has few natural enemies other than human beings.(泛指大象这类动物)
  • One of the elephants which we saw at the zoo had only one tusk. (特指动物园的那只)

    3.5.3 用或不用逗号,句义有差别

  • He has a daughter who works in a hospital. (有一个在医院工作的女儿,也许还有别的女儿)

  • He has a daughter, who works in a hospital. (强调他有一个女儿,在医院工作只是补充信息)

非限制性定语从句的译文看出,非限制性定语从句的翻译非常灵活,不一定都译成定语“……的”

3.5.4 非限制性定语从句的翻译

限制性定语从句一般翻译成定语的形式“……的”,而非限制性定语从句往往会译成各种状语形式
The food, which wasn’t in the fridge, all went off. (食物都坏了,因为没有放在冰箱里)

3.6 定语从句与同位语从句的区分

3.6.1 从结构上区分:that是否作成分

that在定语从句中要充当成分,比如作从句的主语或宾语;而that在同位语从句中不作任何成分,仅起连词的作用。
换句话说,定语从句的结构是“名词+ that +不完整的句子”,而同位语从句的结构是“名词+ that +完整的陈述句”。

  • The rumor that he spread everywhere turned out to be untrue.(spread缺宾语,定语从句)
  • The rumor that Tom was a thief turned out to be untrue.(同位语从句)

    3.6.2 从意义上区分:that引导的从句的意义不同

    定语从句相当于形容词,对先行词起修饰、描述和限制的作用;同位语从句相当于一个名词,对其前面名词内容的具体表述,二者是同位关系。

  • The fact that you pointed out made me interested.(定从,you pointed out只是修饰fact,并不是fact的内容)

  • The fact that there are no lives on the moon is known to us all. (说明了fact的内容是什么)

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