首页 -> 2008年第3期

谈英语名词常被忽视的功能

作者:李宁莹




  [摘 要]谈到英语名词或词组在句子中的功能,似乎很少有人能注意到名词还能作状语。笔者探索了名词作各类状语时的功能,并附上若干例句加以说明,旨在抛砖引玉,引起更多同人的关注和研究。
  [关键词]名词 语法功能 状语
  
  名词(以下还包括名词词组)作状语,就是指名词放在动词的前面或后面,对这个动词起着直接修饰或限制的作用。在以往的语法书中,名词一般被认为不能独立作状语的。然而,近年来,笔者在大量阅读和研究中却惊讶地发现:名词(包括普通名词、时间名词和方位名词)作状语的现象在生活中出现频率之高,有时甚至还远远超过名词的其他功能(如作宾补、名词的修饰语和介词的宾语),而仅仅屈居于名词作主语和宾语的功能之后。根据表修饰或限制的不同情况,名词作状语可归纳为下面几种类型。
  
  (一)名词用作时间状语
  英语名词用作时间状语的现象最为普遍。作时间状语的名词往往被放在句首,起着强调动作发生的时间、频率的作用。在作时间状语的名词当中,出现频率较高的有以下几类名词:
  1.表示星期、月份、季节、某节日的词和表示“早、中、晚”概念的词。如Saturday(s),winter(s),last thanksgiving,the first night等。请看例句:
  (1)Saturday I shook the cobwebs off my one skirt, put on a green paisley top and shell beads and appeared at the auditorium precisely at one o’clock.(Jane Morse Thompson, The Actress and the Athlete)星期六我找出一件裙子,甩掉了上面的蛛网,套上一件绿色的毛衣,戴上一串贝壳项链,一点钟准时出现在礼堂门口。
  (2)Sure enough,the next night Fred reported that his suspicious had been right. (Helen Martini, Bringing Up MacArthur)不出意料,第二天晚上弗雷德公布说他的怀疑是正确的。
  (3)All morning he’d been thinking back to when he’d been a boy on a day like this, would have been foot-loose and free as a big bird. (Paul Darcy Boles, Lucas and Jake)整个早晨他都在回想,当他是个孩子的时候,在这样的一天里,他会是多么自由自在,像只鸟儿一样。
  (4)The next Christmas they were married, and for three months she was perfectly happy: for six months she was very happy.(D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers)接下来的那个圣诞节他们结婚了,之后的三个月,她感到无比的幸福,在婚后半年里,她还是觉得相当快乐。
  2.由“times”或“every +名词”等结构构成的时间状语,常用来表示动作发生的频率。
  (1)Three times she has told me that she did try to phone me several times when she was in New York but failed.(Paul Darcy Boles, Lucas and Jake)她分别有三次告诉我,当她在纽约的时候,她多次试图给我电话,却没有成功。
  (2)We got a car two years ago. We changed the oil every five months… We used to drive it to Scotland every three months or so. (Paul Darcy Boles, Lucas and Jake)两年前我们有了辆车。每五个月我们都要给车换机油。我们曾经每三个月左右就开车去苏格兰一次。
  3.时间状语名词还可以出现在复合名词里。
  (1)The findings go against the belief that night-flying birds lacked predators.这些发现不符合人们相信的所谓夜间飞行的鸟类没有天敌的说法。
  (2)Spring flowering bulbs have in common that they need to be planted some 3~4 weeks before the frost is in the ground.春天开花的块茎有一个共性,种植它们要赶在地面出现霜冻前三到四个星期的时候。
  4.作时间状语的名词在句中还常常兼带着其他的语法功能。
  (1)表对比:But one minute you say you’ll work hard on it and the next minute you say you’d rather go out to drink.(Paul Darcy Boles, Lucas and Jake)不过你一会儿说你会努力做这件事,过了一会儿就说你更愿意出去喝酒。
  (2)起承接上文的连接作用:This time I put him back in his sleeping box, he curled his little legs under him and went to sleep.(Helen Martini, Bringing Up MacArthur)这次我把它放在它的睡篮里,它把它的小小的腿蜷曲在身体下面,睡着了。
  
  (二)名词用作地点状语
  1.用作地点代表词有place, distance, way等。
  (1)A short distance below him was the cow, standing at the edge of a reedy lake.(Michael Mclaverty, The Wild Duck’s Nest)在他下面不远的地方有一只牛,站在芦苇丛生的湖边。
  (2)You can follow me. I am going that way too. (Helen Martini, Bringing Up MacArthur)你可以跟着我走,我也去那个方向。
  (3)Next door Tony was opening and closing the cab door of his pick up.(Jane Morse Thompson, The Actress and the Athlete)在隔壁,托尼正不停地把他的皮卡车的车门打开又关上。
  (4)There is a king’s picture the other side. (Helen Martini, Bringing Up MacArthur)在另一边有一张国王的相片。
  

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