欄目主持:張滿勝,英國劍橋大學(xué)英語碩士,新東方學(xué)?!靶滤季S語法”培訓(xùn)創(chuàng)始人,著有暢銷圖書《英語語法新思維》系列。新浪微博:@張滿勝
欄目介紹:本欄目“你問我答”版塊選取部分讀者的提問進(jìn)行回答,歡迎大家通過本刊微博、微信、郵箱(teens@xdf.cn)或掃描下方左側(cè)二維碼向張滿勝老師提問,提問時請注明“名師點(diǎn)睛”字樣,問題選中者將獲得當(dāng)期雜志一本。
你問我答
Q1:A look at what goes on in most classrooms these days makes it abundantly clear that when people think about education, they are not thinking about what it feels like to be a child, or what makes childhood an important and valuable stage of life in its own right. 滿勝老師好,① a look at在句子中作什么成分,為什么可以這樣用呢?②“make it abundantly”中的it指代什么呢?
A1:關(guān)于問題①,此處look是名詞,作主語。具體分析如下:A look at的后面接了一個由what引導(dǎo)的賓語從句what goes on in most classrooms these days,二者合起來構(gòu)成了一個名詞短語,意為“只要看一下在現(xiàn)如今的大多數(shù)教室里所發(fā)生的事情”。該短語的中心詞是look。
關(guān)于問題②,it在句中作形式賓語,指代clear之后由that引導(dǎo)的賓語從句。具體分析如下:本句的基本結(jié)構(gòu)是主語+ makes + it (形式賓語) + clear (賓語補(bǔ)足語) + that從句 (賓語從句)。也就是說,make真正的賓語是that從句(that when people ... own right),該賓語從句被后置了(詳見《英語語法新思維高級教程:駕馭語法》P10),同時在賓語的位置上添加了it作為形式賓語。這里的it被稱作“先行賓語it”(因?yàn)樗扔谡嬲馁e語出現(xiàn))。
在本句中,that引導(dǎo)的賓語從句中有一個由when引導(dǎo)的時間狀語從句when people think about education (當(dāng)人們想到教育時),與其對應(yīng)的主句是“they are not thinking about what ..., or what ...”,包含由what引導(dǎo)的兩個賓語從句。一個是what it feels like to be a child,其中it作形式主語,指代真正的主語to be a child,這里it可以稱作“先行主語it”;另一個賓語從句是what makes childhood an important and valuable stage of life in its own right。
整個句子的大意為:只需要看看現(xiàn)如今大多數(shù)教室里所發(fā)生的事情,就足以明白一點(diǎn),當(dāng)人們想到教育時,他們并沒有考慮到作為兒童的感受,或者是什么讓童年本身就足以成為人生中一個重要而寶貴的階段。
Q2:Meeting him, and seeing the enormous goodwill towards the bank in that room really brought home to me what it is that makes our bank so special. It is that we care about our clients, our colleagues, and the society we serve. 張老師您好,請問what it is中的it是指代后面的“that makes ...”嗎?
A2:這里的it指代的不是“that makes ...”從句,而是“it is ... that ...”強(qiáng)調(diào)句型。下面我們來解讀一下what從句的演化過程。
Step 1簡單句:X makes our bank so special. (X使得我們銀行與眾不同。)
Step 2對X進(jìn)行強(qiáng)調(diào):It is X that makes our bank so special. (是X使得我們銀行與眾不同。)
Step 3對X進(jìn)行提問:What is it that makes our bank so special? (是什么使得我們銀行與眾不同?)
Step 4
改為名詞從句(變倒裝語序?yàn)檎UZ序):... what it is that makes our bank so special ... (……是什么使得我們銀行與眾不同……)
然后把這個what從句放在brought home to me后邊作brought的賓語,構(gòu)成一個賓語從句。注意,這里有這樣一個短語搭配bring sth. home to sb.,意思是“讓某人意識到某事是多么嚴(yán)重(或困難、危險、重要等)”。在使用時,我們常常把bring的賓語sth.放到句末,即說成bring home to sb. sth. (尤其是在從句充當(dāng)賓語的情況下)。比如牛津高階詞典上提供的這個例句:The television pictures brought home to us the full horror of the attack. (電視畫面使我們意識到這次襲擊有多么恐怖。)回到Q2的問題,在這里,what從句充當(dāng)brought的賓語。因此前面一句話意為:見到他,以及在那個房間里看到人們對我行的極大善意,真的讓我懂得了到底是什么使得我們銀行與眾不同。
此外順便提醒一下,后面的一句話“It is that we care about our clients, our colleagues, and the societies we serve”也是一個強(qiáng)調(diào)句,被強(qiáng)調(diào)的內(nèi)容是其中的that從句:a. It is that we care about our clients, our colleagues, and the society we serve. 該強(qiáng)調(diào)句省去了that makes our bank so special這部分內(nèi)容,完整的句子應(yīng)為:b. It is that we care about our clients, our colleagues, and the society we serve that makes our bank so special. (是我們對客戶、同事及我們所服務(wù)的社會所給予的關(guān)心使得我們銀行與眾不同。)若去掉“it is ... that ...”強(qiáng)調(diào)結(jié)構(gòu),可將b句還原成:c. That we care about our clients, our colleagues, and the society we serve makes our bank so special. 由此可見,被強(qiáng)調(diào)的that從句其實(shí)是一個主語從句,后接謂語動詞makes。
延伸拓展
首先,本期的兩個問題都涉及it的指代問題。Q1中的it屬于“先行賓語it”,指代被后置的賓語從句。問題二中的it源于“it is ... that ...”強(qiáng)調(diào)句型。
其次,兩個句子都涉及賓語后置,請比較:
a. ... makes it abundantly clear that when people think about education, they are not thinking about what it feels like to be a child, or what makes childhood an important and valuable stage of life in its own right.
b. ... brought home to me what it is that makes our bank so special.
a句中被后置的賓語是由that引導(dǎo)的從句,此時需要添加形式賓語it;b句中被后置的賓語是由what引導(dǎo)的從句,此時不能添加形式賓語it,不能說成:... brought it* home to me what it is that makes our bank so special.
由此得出下面重要結(jié)論:that引導(dǎo)的賓語從句被后置,前面需要添加形式賓語it來指代;wh-連詞引導(dǎo)的賓語從句被后置,不能添加it來指代。換言之,先行賓語it一般指代that從句,不指代wh-從句。
除了作先行賓語,it還可以作先行主語,來指代that從句或不定式短語。如Q1中出現(xiàn)的“... what it feels like to be a child ...”。在此基礎(chǔ)上,我們可以進(jìn)一步拓展“It feels ... to be/do sth.結(jié)構(gòu)”。我們經(jīng)常會用“It feels (like)+ adj. + to do/be ...”這個結(jié)構(gòu)來談感受,表示“to do/be ...”的內(nèi)容是一種什么樣的感覺。比如:It feels wonderful to be sitting with you like this. (就這樣和你坐著感覺真棒?。┰俦热缦氡磉_(dá)“到了30歲是一種什么樣的感覺?”,我們就可以說:How does it feel to be 30?/What does it feel like to be 30? 這里it指代to be 30。