英语宾语从句用法剖析

摘 要：宾语从句是英语语法的教学重点和学生的学习难点。主要概述宾语从句的连接词及其用法，说明否定转移、反意疑问句以及主从句中时态的一致性原则，使宾语从句的教学更简单。

关键词：连接词；宾语从句；否定转移；时态

一、连接词

众所周知，引导宾语从句的连接词通常有三大类，用法各有不同，现概括如下：

1.连接词that，没有词义；不作句子成分；在部分宾语从句中可省略，其他名词性从句中不能省略。

2.连接词if，whether，词义为“是否”；不担任句子成分，不能省略；大多数情况下whether和if可互换。

3.连接代词who，whoever，what，whatever，which，whichever和连接副词how，why，when，where等，有词义；在从句中通常作句子成分，不能省略。

二、何为宾语从句

宾语从句是在一个主从复合句中充当宾语的句子，可以是及物动词的宾语和介词的宾语。例如：

She often tells us that nobody can leave the school without permission.

I don’t know whether / if Mr Johnson will be free this afternoon.

Nobody knows who broke the window carelessly between classes.

I will do whatever the people think necessary and important.

三、形式宾语

有时候用it作形式宾语，把宾语从句放在后面作宾语，常见句式有：

1.经常放在动词make， think， consider， feel， find 等后面，构成“主语+动词+it+形容词或名词+that 从句”结构，例如：

He considers it important that students should speak English in class.

They have made it a rule that they shouldn’t watch TV when they have meals at home.

2.经常放在动词like， love， enjoy， appreciate， hate， dislike及短语see to，rely on，depend on，count on等后面，构成“主语+动词+it+从句”结构，例如：

I appreciate it if you help me with my math after class.

I will see to it that each child in rural schools shall be given two eggs every weekday.

四、下列情况宾语从句中不省略that

1.由连词and，or连接的第二个以及往后的宾语从句中

He thought（that） everybody should be treated equally and that they should be well educated.

2. 作介词宾语时不省略that

The suit is quite good except that the trousers are a bit longer.

3. 当谓语动词与that 引导的宾语从句中有插入语时

They decided，in view of her perfect performance，that she was employed immediately.

五、宾语从句中用whether还是if

大多数情况下，引导宾语从句的whether和if可以互换，只不过whether比if更正式或在书面语中用得更多，但下列情况只用whether：

1.宾语从句前置时

Whether he will ask her to marry him，I don’t know.

2. 作介词宾语时

I worry about whether he will come back home safely on time.

3. 跟or not 连用时

I don’t know whether or not I can get my visa to go to America.

4. 后接不定式时

They can’t decide whether to turn to the teacher for help.

六、否定转移及反意疑问句

在正式文体中，如果主句中有表示“认为”这个意义的动词作谓语时，宾语从句中的否定一般要转移到主句中来，常见动词有：believe， think， suppose， guess， imagine等；在这种情况下，如果要将该句变为反意疑问句，需要考虑主句的主语，有两种情形：第一，若主句主语是第一人称，反意疑问句要依宾语从句而变；第二，若主句的主语为第二、第三人称，反意疑问句要依主句而变；因为前面主句中有否定形式，故反意疑问句中用肯定形式，如：

I don’t suppose that she can pass the driving test without practice， can she？

They don’t think that she will punish her students seriously， do they？

七、时态一致性原则及语序问题

当主句的动词为一般现在时或一般将来时，从句中用所需时态；

当主句的动词为一般过去时，从句中用相应的过去时态；

但若从句叙述客观真理和自然现象时，时态不受限制，用所需时态；

宾语从句中应该是陈述句语序，如：

I think that he is very honest and we can make friends with him.

He said that he had succeeded in passing the driving test and he would buy a car of his own.

The scientist argued that if a figure has more than two odd points，you can’t go over it without lifting your pencil from your page or going over a line twice.

Nobody in our class knew what the matter was with him. （错误）

Nobody in our class knew what was the matter with him. （正确）

参考文献：

王佩夫，赵忠西.高中英语语法全解全析2000题[M].延边人民出版社，2006-09.