《美國文學教程》中的若干語法表達問題(01)

挑刺書名：《美國文學教程》

出版單位：南開大學出版社

書    號：ISBN 7-310-00751-4

出版時間：1995年8月第1版

■1. However, the original sinfulness of a man’s nature could not be mitigated by nothing in his personal power, thus his redemption must be a free gift of God’s grace.（第2頁第8-11行）

問題：這句話出現(xiàn)了雙重否定not…nothing…，根據(jù)上下文，應(yīng)將not去掉或把nothing改為anything。

■2. Different from the French and Spanish colonies which did not possessed a representative self-government（第5頁倒數(shù)第8-10行）

問題：在否定句中，助動詞did已經(jīng)表示過去，因此其后的行為動詞possess應(yīng)該用動詞原形。這是最基本的英語語法現(xiàn)象，可是作為高校教材，竟然多處出現(xiàn)此類錯誤，很難想象。

■3. This respect paid to essential civil rights began to take root during the colonial period, and bring about increasing changes in the social structure, while breaking down many sorts of special privileges.（第5頁倒數(shù)第4-1行）

問題：從結(jié)構(gòu)和意義上可以看出，動詞短語bring about應(yīng)該與began to take root形成并列關(guān)系，因此根據(jù)英語中的時態(tài)一致原則，也應(yīng)該使用一般過去式形式，即brought about。

■4. As revolting movement became stronger and better organized, revolutionary legislatures were created in apposition [opposition] to the old regular legislature which were, under the control of the royal governors, composed of conservative men and property attached to the existing social order.（第22頁第15-19行）

問題：既然此前的 legislatures 用復(fù)數(shù)，那么 the old regular legislature which were 中的 legislature 無論從結(jié)構(gòu)平行還是語法角度考慮都應(yīng)該使用復(fù)數(shù)形式才對。

■5. The Congress approved the violent apposition [opposition] of Massachusetts to the recent acts of British Parliament, and declared as an ultimatum that if military force were used against the people of the colony, “all America ought to support them” in resistance.（第23頁第16-20行）

問題：這句話中的從句 if military force were used 顯然存在主謂數(shù)不一致的情況。

(待續(xù))

■本文摘自英語語言學博士黃衛(wèi)峰教授著的《英語語言文化散論》（國防科技大學出版社）！如有兄弟網(wǎng)站轉(zhuǎn)載本文，務(wù)請注明來源！