Ask & Learn闻问切英语口语:Relative Clause
读者 Jennifer 寄来两句句子,想问哪句正确?
1. Now everything is cleared away that might make trouble.
2. Now everything that might make trouble is cleared away.
简单的说,两句都符合文法。
一些基本的语法书,建议关系代名词(relative pronoun)后应该紧接所修饰的名词,主要是因为,若修饰语和被修饰的名词距离太远会引起混淆。Jennifer 提出的两句,"that might make trouble" 是修饰语,而被修饰的名词是 everything。 如果按照语法书的建议,句(2)比句 (1)较容易理解。
然而,当句子的补语(sentence complement)比修饰语要短的时候,把补语放在被修饰的名词后面反而会更干净利落。在这两句,补语是 "is cleared away",补语只有三个字,而修饰语是 "that might make trouble"。按照这原则,句(1)又会比句 (2)通顺。
由此可见,我们讨论的不是语法的对错,而是修辞上的取舍。
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