2019-03-20 | 小编:长安 | 0 |
对于英语学习者来说,定语从句的语法知识是自初中开始就学习的内容。定语从句分为限定性定语从句和非限定性定语从句,其中,限定性定语从句是对于所修饰词的意思加以限制,表示"…的人(东西)",其英文学术名称为Defining Attributive Clauses。虽然考生对于定语从句并不陌生,但实际上定语从句中that的省略还是会影响考生对于阅读中长难句的理解,今天南京环球教育巫婧璇老师就带着大家进一步探讨一下该类问题。
首先要明确这样一则语法知识,即:在限定性定语从句中,that作为关系代词在从句中充当宾语时可以省略。例如下面这个简单的例句:
These are the things (that) you need.
You can take any room (that) you like.
上面两句话的意思非常好理解,但当这种省略情况出现在雅思真题中的时候,就容易对许多同学造成理解障碍,因为省略了从句的先行词,考生无法分清从句的起始位置导致主干句子的主谓宾混淆,从而无法读懂句子。下面一起来看一个长难句:
"As a skilled violinist but a beginner at the German language who struggled to learn it, Suzuki noticed that children pick up their native language quickly, and even dialects adults consider "difficult" to learn are spoken with ease by children at age five or six."
上述句子是属长难句,同时也是一道选择题的出题考察句,因此在考试中必须要快速提炼出本句话的主要信息。针对长难句分析,我们在课上提到过,从主句出发,通过找到主句的主干(即主谓宾)来提炼核心信息,再次读修饰成分和状语意群。因此本句话的结构为:
"As a skilled violinist but a beginner at the German language who struggled to learn it(状语部分),Suzuki noticed that children pick up their native language quickly(主句),and even dialects adults consider "difficult" to learn are spoken with ease by children at age five or six(并列主句)."
"As a skilled violinist but a beginner at the German language who struggled to learn it",as开头排除为主句的可能,其意思也比较好理解,基本释义为,"作为一个精湛的小提琴演奏家的同时却是痛苦的德语学习入门者",紧接着的主句主谓也较容易被看出,主语为人名Suzuki,谓语是及物动词noticed,宾语由that引导的从句充当,层层剥离可以分析出宾语从句中主语为children,谓语pick up,宾语language,意为"Suzuki注意到儿童学习母语非常迅速"。
至此,学生理解都没有非常困难的地方,and后的并列句在课上讲评的时候学生很难读懂,主要原因是找不准主谓,主语为dialects;许多同学会错认为是adults,这主要是因为词汇量不足影响阅读。课上提问让学生指认谓语的错误率非常高,大部分把adults错认为主语的同学会认为consider为主干谓语,实际上consider为定语从句谓语,而此并列句主干谓语是are spoken,宾语是children。本句话在dialects和adults中省略了that,意为:"甚至那些大人都觉得很难学的方言,五六岁的孩子说起来却很简单"。
辨认这种that的省略其实是有一些技巧的。在省略that的情况下,被修饰的名词一般会和定语从句的主语(通常是名词)紧密相连,为名词+名词结构,例如上句中的dialects adult,名词+名词通常有两种情况:一为名词1修饰名词2,做前置定语,如lemon tree, blockbuster film, tourism agency等;二,当两个名词没有修饰关系时就可以考虑that省略的情况。我们再来看下面一个例句:(C6T3P2)
"The way rewards are distributed should be transparent so that employees perceive that rewards or outcomes are equitable and equal to the inputs given."
运通上述技巧,不难看出way与rewards之间省略了关系代词that,意为:"奖励被分发的方式应该是透明的"。像这样的例子在雅思实战中还有很多,今后的练习中,出现限定性定语从句that省略的情况,考生们不妨在精读文章时添上that,以确保更快速准确的理解句意。