比方說寫人的時候,我們常常為了立體全面的介紹一個人而大費周章連續(xù)使用兩個,三個甚至是四個句子來介紹。這樣一來不僅筆墨費盡,而且還往往吃力不討好。試比較一下兩組不同的寫法:
1. William Shakespeare is British. He was considered to be one of the greatest writers in England. He was famous for his plays.
2. William Shakespeare, a British, who was considered to be one of the greatest writers in England, was famous for his plays.
通過對比大家會發(fā)現(xiàn)兩點:
一、第二種寫法的質(zhì)量明顯更高,它滿足了我們在寫作中對長句的需求。
二、這兩組句子在內(nèi)容上沒有任何區(qū)別,區(qū)別的僅僅是形式。
但是同時大家也會思考:這只是一個例子,是否具有普遍性或者普遍意義?答案是肯定的。首先,這個句子的普遍性在于這個句子的本身的作用。它本身的形式可以放在任何一篇寫人記事的文章開頭,也可以放在任何一篇議論文中引入例子的時候用于介紹例子當(dāng)中的主要人物的背景。在新概念英語三冊中就可以找到不少的這樣的句子的范本,比如:
【Lesson17, NCEIII】Verrazano, an Italian about whom little is known, sailed into New York Harbor in 1524 and named it Angouleme.
【Lesson24, NCEIII】… the heroine, a dear old lady, who had always been so kind to everybody, had, in her youth, poisoned every one of her five husbands.
試比較:
1.Verrazano was an Italian. Little is known about him. He sailed into New York Harbor in 1524 and named it Angouleme.
2.The heroine was a dear old lady. She had always been so kind to everybody. She had, in her youth, poisoned every one of her five husbands.
經(jīng)過以上的分析之后,相信剩下的問題就只剩下一個:面對這樣的句子我們應(yīng)該如何去操作呢?操作的部分分兩步:長句都是由短句合并而來,所以我們首先需要對簡單的短句進行分析,然后再選擇合適的語法手段將之合并。通過分析不難發(fā)現(xiàn),這三個短句所討論的都是同一主體。這時候就可以使用各種可以做后置修飾或補充說明的語法手段將三個短句有機的結(jié)合起來。這些語法手段中包括了:分詞作后置定語,不定式做后置定語,同位語等等。