浅谈英语中的“非常规定语/表语”
文章来源: 温哥华失眠夜2017-05-13 11:57:54

通常情况下,英语中的常规定语不外乎下列几种:

 

1. 形容词作定语:She is a beautiful girl .

2. 副词作定语:I live in the room above .

3. 介词短语作定语:the guy in the office is drinking coffee .

4. 不定式作定语:The author to write this book is famous .

5. 从句作定语:The writer who is going to write this book is famous .

 

我想侧重介绍一种我称为“非常规定语/表语”的语言现象。它的特点是鲜活灵动不拘一格,让句子充满现代感和俏皮感。学会用这种句式写作,可以帮助写作者构建自己别竖一帜的语言风格,形成自己独特的修辞手段。

 

这种“非常规定语”有几种不同的表现形式:

 

1. 利用“连字符号”(hyphen)把一个短语或甚至一个完整句子串联在一起,置于被修饰词之前,其功能等同于一个形容词,起到定语的作用:

 

I neared the rural street that we’d walked down from his parents’ house In the small might-as-well-be-Mexico town in Southern California.

 

But since I came from the Children-should-be-seen-and-not-heard era, I kept my questions to myself.

 

She squealed in her best I’ll-say-anything-to-make-a-sale voice.

 

2. 利用双引号将一个完整句子括起来放置于被修饰词之前,同样起到定语的作用:

 

But even as a kid I had trouble with the whole “God created the world in six days” thing.

 

“非常规表语”通常用在带有副词so 之后的句子,也是使用双引号括住一个完整句子,相当于一个形容词:

 

I hate the word “forever”. It was so “and then you’re dead.”

 

还可以不限于一个句子,甚至可以是一个小段落:

 

Dating is so----queer. So “Oh man, all the good ones are married or gay. Am I right, girls? High Five!”

 

与单纯的副词+形容词结构相比,这种“非常规表语”由于其拟人化的对话感而顿时让整个句子声情并茂跃然纸上。

 

当然,既然是“非常规”的语言现象,在使用时不可随意滥用,只宜起画龙点睛的功效。至于何时何地如何使用才算恰当,这个问题也问得太“你问我,我问谁” 了!