理解并区分英语中的三大从句——宾语从句、定语从句和状语从句,对于提高英语水平至关重要。下面,我将从两个维度帮助你区分它们,即与主句的粘合度和从句的构成。
首先,让我们从与主句的粘合度来分析。
名词从句与主句的粘合度最高,直接充当主句的成分,如主语、宾语、表语或同位语。例如,从句“Whether he will be here is unknown.”充当主句的主语,是主语从句;“I believe that he did not lie.”中从句充当宾语,是宾语从句;“The truth is that we never sent the letter to him.”中的从句充当表语,是表语从句;“He told us the news that Hawking passed away.”中从句充当同位语,是同位语从句。
定语从句的粘合度次之,它们通常修饰主句中的名词,并嵌套在主句中,如“The girl who came back from USA is our monitor.”和“I lost the phone which my father bought back from Europe for me last month.”。
非限制性定语从句的粘合度最低,它们与主句之间通常有一个逗号隔开,与主句独立存在,例如“He never told us the truth, which made the whole case complicated.”和“We have to open the window, as everybody needs fresh air.”。实际上,非限制性定语从句在意义上更像是状语从句。
接下来,我们从从句的构成来区分它们。
名词从句包括主语从句、宾语从句、表语从句和同位语从句。每种从句都可采用陈述句、一般疑问句或特殊疑问句的结构。例如,陈述句“That he loves iPhone is a truth.”;一般疑问句“I don’t know if he loves iPhone.”;特殊疑问句“What he likes is unknown.”。
定语从句只有一种构成方式,即陈述句,且必须有一个先行词,如“the girl who speaks fluent English”中的先行词“girl”。状语从句则由各种引导词构成,同样采用陈述句结构,如“Although he was young, he knew many secrets.”中的引导词“although”。
通过以上两个维度的分析,你应该能区分英语中的三大从句了。试试自己写一些句子,将它们归类,以加深理解。如果你需要进一步学习和提升英语语法,欢迎关注微信公众号“英语提升”,那里有更深入的内容供你学习。