从三品词到四类短语.doc

从“三品词”到“四类短语”评分析英语语法近日惊闻四川大学出版社2007年11月出版的本人自编自用的一本语法教材分析英语语法竟然出现在北大、清华、北航、北理工、北师大、北外、哈工大、东北师大、川大，电子科大、武大、华中科大、复旦、上海交大、同济、厦大以及浙大等大学图书馆的馆藏目录时，先是怀疑，马上上网查证。查完香港地区的十多所大学图书馆之后才发现该书居然是2000年至今近十年间出版的“英语语法”类书籍中唯一一本同时被香港浸会大学、岭南大学和香港中文大学等三家图书馆购买的纸质英语语法图书，同时还是2004至今岭南大学图书馆购买的唯一一本中国人编写的 “英语语法”书，但在该图书馆用“English grammar”查询则得知在此期间从世界各地购买了15本“English grammar”类书籍。在北京大学图书馆用“英语语法”作为“主题”查询，在04-08年这5间包括分析英语语法在内一共购买117本“英语语法”类书籍，但是只有分析英语语法被岭南大学图书馆购买。因此说这本书是百里挑一的书一点也不过分。在感到骄傲和自豪之后我又感到了一种责任。我有责任告诉读者此书的存在以及她的优点和缺点。该书是以教材的形式全面介绍英语语法的词法和句法的专著，虽然该书目前还没有被教育部认定为国家级规划教材，从国内被教育部认定的国家级英语语法规划教材没有一本是纸质图书进入香港的大学这一事实来看，此书成为国家级规划教材是不会有问题的。如果根据一个或一串词汇在句中的“功能”为标准，以字母构成的词素，以词素构成的词，以词构成的短语（或词组），以及由短语构成的分句之间便不存在明确的界限，只要他们在句中的作用即功能相同，他们就是同样的短语。Quirk等人在A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language（1985.245）中写到：“Types of noun phrases The noun phrase typically functions as subject, object, and complement of clauses and as complement of prepositional phrases. Consider the different subjects in the following sentences:The girl is my sister （1）The blonde girl is my sister （2）The blonde girl in blue jeans is my sister. （3）The blonde girl wearing blue jeans is my sister （4）The blonde girl who is wearing blue jeans is my sister （5）She is my sister （6）”1 Quirk, R. et al A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language M Longman House, Burnt Mill Harlow, England 1985.245。在Quirk等人看来前面六例中的六类名词短语在句中是起同样的作用即做句子主语，第六例中没有名词，仅有一个代词She，第五例中的名词短语还含有一个定语从句，但是他们在句中的功能却完全一样，因此可以分析为不同类型的“名词短语”。“Two and three is /are five.2加3等于5。 The two are separated by the Irish Sea.这两个（岛屿）被爱尔兰海分隔开来。 The poor and the sick have a hard time when it snows in the city. 到下雪的时候这个城市里的穷人和病人就难过了。He received a long letter from his beloved.他收到了他深爱的人的一封长信。”2 薄冰 何政安 新编英语语法M，北京：世界知识出版社，2004，705。前面四例中虽然没有名词作为短语的“中心词”，但是由于他们分别充当句子的主语和宾语，因此他们同样被分析为“名词短语”。从上面的例句可以看出，QUIRK和薄冰先生已经把名词短语的范围扩展到了代词、数词和“THE+形容词”等结构，名词短语不局限于以名词为中心词来构成。在下列对话中B的两种回答几乎是同样的：A：Lets go picnicking tomorrow! B：What you said sounds great.= It sounds great.此处的What you said 就等于It的功能，功能主义学者从功能的角度就将他们分析为两个“名词短语”。“a. ly makes an adverb. b. the bomb exploded is a sentence.”3 赵彦春 王娟 何以为准，功能/语义还是句法？J，外语教学与研究， 2008（3，22）。在a例中的ly还不是一个单词，仅为一个词素，但是它在句中与b例中的the bomb exploded一样做句子主语，因此他们同样被分析为功能相同的两个“名词短语”。为了更好地理解根据句法功能标准划分出来的“短语”，分析英语语法写到：“语法学家还从句法功能的角度将句子中的成分分为四类短语：名词性短语、动词短语、形容词性短语和副词性短语。It is red indeed.这个简单句就是由名词性短语(It)、动词短语(is)、形容词性短语(red)和副词性短语(indeed)构成的。1. 名词性短语名词性短语（noun phrases：NP）就是在句中充当主语、宾语、补语或同位语的短语，多数名词性短语是由一个名词充当该短语的中心词（head），但是做主语或宾语的动名词短语、不定式短语以及主语从句、宾语从句、补语从句和同位语从句都属于广义的名词性短语。如：（1） Some talented young football players are from abroad. （2）She is the best student in our school. （3）Being a father is not easy nowadays. （4）Its not easy to be a father. （5）He hopes to become a doctor. （6）What youve just said sounds reasonable. （7）Do whatever you like. （8）This is what he told me. （9）I had some idea of what the job would be like. （10）The fact that hes older than me is not relevant. （11）Peace is really enjoyable, especially to the horror-stricken races.（12） Knowledge is power.由于短语是从句法功能的角度来划分的，因此只要它独立地担当了句中的成分，我们就认为它是短语了，如前例中的knowledge和power就分别是两个名词性短语。2. 动词短语在句中做谓语的动词，不论它由一个完全动词构成还是由情态动词与原形动词或助动词与动词原形或分词形式一起构成句子谓语，我们统称它们为动词短语，如：（1）He is one of my friends. （2）His sister goes to school at 7 every morning. （3）He can complete his task ahead of time.（4） My mother-in-law will do the house work for us. （5）Your father doesnt like it. （6）She is leaving for Beijing tomorrow morning.（7） I have seen the film several times. （8）The criminal was hanged last Sunday. （9） They have been taught how to drive a car for more than a month.3. 形容词性短语说明名词（或代词）的性质或所处的状态的短语叫形容词性短语。所有在句中做定语的短语以及多数做补语的短语被归纳为形容词性短语（Adjective Phrases, AP），如： (1)An extremely large ship has been built in their factory. My brother, angry with my sister now, is smoking alone in his room. (2)Afraid of upsetting her parents, she entered her room stealthily. (3)Its fine. (4)The ball-pen is really nice. (5)She thought him kind and generous. (6)I think it highly unlikely that Ill get the job.做定语的分词短语、不定式短语、介词短语以及做补语的介词短语和定语从句也都属于形容词性短语，如：(1)The completely exhausted worker lay there fast asleep. (2)The teaching building to be built here will be the highest one in this district.(3) The keyboard on the desk is a new one. (4)Her pen is in her pencil-box.(5) Houses which overlook the lake cost more.同样，由于是从句法功能的角度来划分的短语，因此只要它独立地担当了句中的成分，我们就认为它是短语了，前面Its fine.中的fine就是一个形容词性短语。4. 副词性短语在句中修饰形容词、副词、动词或整个句子的成分都是状语。做状语的各类词汇（含单个的副词、分词短语、不定式短语、介词短语和状语从句）都统称为副词性短语（adverb phrases：AdP），如：（1）He is a very tall man. (2) She works much harder than others. (3) He quickly cut down the tree. (4)Very happily she ran towards her mother. (5) Arriving at his sisters home, he suddenly found out that his arrival was not a pleasure to his sister but a heavy burden.(6) In order to finish the job earlier than the scheduled time, he went home very late. (7)They are playing basketball on the playground right now. (8)He hasnt got any hobbies unless you call watching TV a hobby. (9)Sit where I can see you.有些短语在句中做主语或宾语时是名词性短语。如：A: How much cloth do you want: B: Just two inches.但是当它们做状语时，就转变成了副词性短语。如：（1）He is two inches taller than his father. My brother is five years older than I这里的two inches, five years都是副词性短语，在句中做程度状语。”4 刘应德 分析英语语法， 成都：四川大学出版社，2007，17-20。根据词或词组在句中的作用即句法功能来切分句子的组成部分的思想早在叶斯柏森(Otto Jespersen)的“三品The three Ranks”分法中就已经体现了，比如，“terribly cold weather， weather受cold的限定或说明，而cold却又受terribly的限定或说明。这就叫三品：首品（Primary）: weather，次品（Secondary）：cold，末品（Tertiary）：terribly5 叶斯柏森 英语语法精义Essentials of English GrammarM，熊寅谷译，贵阳：贵州人民出版社，1980。80。他还把做主语、宾语、补语或同位语的形容词、副词、代词、动名词、不定式，甚至分句也分析为“首品”：“One must bow to the inevitable. We shall leave here tomorrow. None of his brothers had any children.”5 82-89“He entered the room without greeting anybody. Complimenting is lying.” 5514 “To see you is always a great pleasure. To err is human, to forgive, divine.” 5527“That he is dead seems tolerably certain. The worst thing is that he never answers our letters. I believe that he is dead.。My suggestion that he was mad was not acceptable by everybody. It is to be regretted that he should have come just now. Whoever says so is a liar.” 5564-570；他还把做定语的名词、代词和副词以及不定式和分句分析为“次品”：“gold coin, stone wall, my(our, your, her, their, no, some, any, every)book, the above remark, the off side, in after years, the then government, the hither shore” 593-96“This never-to-be-forgotten day. She is not the kind of girl to encourage lovers.”11533“Tom has found the key that you lost yesterday.” 5579他还特地指出：“名词作次品时可以像形容词那样，前面有一个副词，在 a division on strict party lines （严格按党的路线来划分） 里，形容词strict修饰作为一个整体来看的party lines，但是在a division on strictly party lines里，strictly是末品，只修饰作为次品的party。” 594名词做次品接受副词修饰的实例还有：“in purely government work, on merely business grounds, from a too exclusively London standpoint, the somewhat zigzag course of the narrative” 595；他还将做状语的名词、冠词、代词和连词也分析为“末品”，“The sea went mountains high. Come home. The sooner, the better. You will be all the better for a drop of whisky. Either he or she must be guilty.” 597-100他还将做状语的现在分词和过去分词短语分析为“末品”：“Being Sunday, the shops were all closed. He being rich and I poor, everybody took his side against me. Weather permitting (God willing), we shall start on Monday. There being no taxi, we had to walk. All things considered, the offer seems reasonable. This done, he bade us good night.” 5498-499他还将做状语的不定式和分句也分析为“末品”：“He came to see it in a different light. He opened his lips to make some remarks.” 5540-541“Dick lay where the grass was thickest. He was angry because no one spoke to him. If he comes, what are we to do?” 5604-608 正如不定式、动名词和分词可根据其在句中的作用分别被分析为“首品”、“次品”和“末品”，介词短语也可根据其在句中的“功能”分析为“首品”、“次品”和“末品”：“from behind the tree” 5101“He is in good health.= he is healthy.” 5175由于他是根据词或短语在句中的功能来划分的三品，因此，同样一个词或短语在句中的功能不同时就分别属于不同的级品，比如：“首品：Sunday afternoon was fine.次品：a Sunday afternoon concert，末品：He slept all Sunday afternoon.” 5101分析英语语法从一个中国人的视角观察英语的句子结构，然后将句子成分从是否为一个句子所必须的角度来划分必要主语、任选主语，必要谓语、任选谓语，必要宾语、任选宾语，必要补语、任选宾语，必要定语、任选定语，必要状语和任选状语等句子成分。从功能的角度将句子的构成元素分为四类短语：其中的“名词性短语”相当于丹麦语言学家叶斯柏森的“首品”的所指含义，“形容词性短语”相当于“次品”，“副词性短语”相当于“末品”。叶氏在英语语法精义(Essentials OF English Grammar)中仅用一个Sunday afternoon就说明一个词或短语在句中的三种功能即三品，但是，分析英语语法用了two inches, five years 才说明同样的词或短语在句中的两种功能即两类短语。但是，叶氏在讨论“a furiously barking dog和 the dog barks furiously”6 奥托. 叶斯柏森 叶斯柏森语言学选集，长沙：湖南教育出版社，2006，302。从“三品词”到“四类短语”评分析英语语法摘要：叶氏在书中仅用一个Sunday afternoon就说明一个词或短语在句中的三种功能即三品，但是，分析英语语法用了two inches, five years 才说明同样的词或短语在句中的两种功能即两类短语。但是，叶氏在讨论“a furiously barking dog和 the dog barks furiously”时将前者分析为“组合式junction”,后者分析为“连接式nexus”。用两个术语来分析显得麻烦。分析英语语法根据前者的功能将其归入“形容词性短语”，而后者单独构成一类短语：“动词短语”。传统语法用十类词来分析构成句子的单词词性，而从功能的角度，我们只需要四类短语就可以分析构成句子的所有成分了，这样既避免了词性繁多的麻烦和模棱两可的无谓争论，又增强了语言分析者的句子总体意识。关键词：书评； 三品词，四大短语From the Three Ranks to the Four Phrasesa Book Review of An Analytical English GrammarAbstract: Otto Jespersen used only one phrase : “Sunday afternoon”, to illustrate the three functions: three ranks while An Analytical English Grammar used two phrases: “two inches” and “five years” just to illustrate two functions: two phrases. But he analyzed the furiously bark