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
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)
