使用not only...but also 的注意事項(xiàng)
not only...but also 是英語中常見的一對(duì)連詞, 相當(dāng)中文的“不僅……而且”。Not only…but also是英語中較為常見的一個(gè)關(guān)聯(lián)詞組。由于它的用法比較復(fù)雜,本文擬對(duì)其用法及其使用中應(yīng)注意的問題作一歸納。
1.”not only A but also B”結(jié)構(gòu)中的A和B通常是同等成分。由于同一成分常常由同一詞類的詞來擔(dān)任,所以A與B常常也是同一詞性,這從本文第一部分的例句中即可看到。但是,也有A與B屬于不同詞性的情形。如:”He is not only very clever, but also a very hard worker, and he likes to do everything well.(他不但聰明,而且能下功夫。他喜歡把每一件事都做得很好。)其中A是形容詞,B是名詞,但兩者均在句中作表語,因此仍是正確句子。然而,在“He not only plays the piano, but also the violin.”一句中,A是動(dòng)詞,B是名詞,不是同一成分,因此語法學(xué)家認(rèn)為此句有點(diǎn)欠妥,至少在書面語中就是如此。如改為“He plays not only the piano, but also the violin”就無懈可擊了,再看下面二例:
The surprise grant not only enabled Dad to finish A&T, but to graduate first in his class.這筆意外的獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金不僅使我父親能讀完農(nóng)業(yè)和技術(shù)學(xué)院,而且畢業(yè)成績(jī)名列榜首。
1.Not only spoke English very carefully, but very clearly as well.
2.有人認(rèn)為,not only…but also不能用于否定句。漢語中用于否定句中的“不但…而且”在英語中要用as well as 表示。如“不但我不想看戲,而且他也不想看戲”可譯作“He, as well as I, doesn’t want to see the play.”不過,這條規(guī)則也有例外,請(qǐng)看下面二例:
Not only did none of us know how the crime was to be committed, we didn’t even know what the crime was to be!
Not only don’t I know the population of Nepal, I don’t know where in god’s world it is!我不但不知道尼泊爾人口,而且連它究竟在哪里也不知道!
這兩個(gè)例句有幾個(gè)共同點(diǎn):都是連接否定分句,都是倒裝句,都沒有用but also。下面一例出自一位美國作家之手,所不同的是,not only…but連接的是并列謂語,第一個(gè)動(dòng)詞是否定的,第二個(gè)動(dòng)詞則是肯定的:
Nonetheless, as he described Mary’s attitudes her accomplishments, he found himself wishing that she cared more about the police side of his life than she seemed to, that she might understand it as intimately, say, as the woman opposite him. But this motion seemed to him so disloyal to Mary that he not only did not articulate it, but at once tried to suppress it.