英语讲义【79】容易犯错的形容词从句

形容词从句是英语中较少用的从句，也较易犯错。

　　最常见的形容词从句是由关系代词“who, whom, which, that, whose”等引导。这种代词既是代词，也是连词。被“who”和“whom ”所修饰的先行词（the antecedent）是“人”。“Who”是主语格（the nominative case）：“whom”是宾语格（the objective case）：“which”的先行词是“动物”或“事物”，是主格，也是宾格：“that”是主格也是宾格，可以指“人物、动物、事物”：“ whose”是所有格（the possessive case），可以和“人物、动物、事物”连用。

　　上述各点都可以从下列例句中反映出来：

　　1. The boy who is watching TV is my nephew.
　　2. Do you know the man whom Jane is talking to?
　　3. The pen which was broken belonged to John.
　　4. This is the cat which came from Thailand.
　　5. The gentleman that has just walked past is our new manager.
　　6. The generation gap is a problem that concerns us all.
　　7. The principal will speak to those whose performance is not up to the standard expected.
　　8. The damaged truck, whose passengers were hospitalised, was towed away.

　　1－8的形容词从句都是由关系代词引导而出。另一种形容词从句是由关系副词引导的。这些关系副词“where, when, why”相当于 “连词＋副词”。当先行词是“地点”时，用“where”；是“时间 ”时，用“when”；是“原因”时，用“why”。例如：

　　9.This is the hotel where many tourists like to stay.
　　10. May I know the time when the assignment must be handed in?
　　11. You have not given David any good reason why he should employ you.

　　形容词从句分两款，即限制性的（restrictive/ defining）和非限制性的（non-restrictive/ non-defining）。

　　限制性形容词从句对先行词很重要，因为它所提供的资讯令先行词突出，容易辨别。例如：

　　12. A doctor is a person who cures patients.
　　13. A library is a place where people study.

　　如果把这两个形容词从句除掉，它们的先行词的形象就立刻模糊起来。

　　非限制性形容词从句并未显得那么重要，因为它只给先行词增加些额外的修饰品；这些附属品，有固然好，没有也无伤大雅，不会对先行词已经明确的身分起不良影响。这种从句要用逗号和先行词隔开。例如：

　　14. NUS, which turns out a variety of scholars, is a world-famous university.
　　15. Jason's latest book, which came out last month, has been well-received.

　　当限制性形容词从句以宾格出现时，里面的关系代词“whom, which, that”可以省略。例如：

　　15.Do you know the man （whom） Jane is talking to?
　　 Please show me the book （which） you bought yesterday.
　　 The house （that） they are living in will be renovated.
　　 Irene likes the puppy （that） her friend gave her.
　　 Have you visited the gentleman （whom） you met at the airport?