第十四章：关系从句

关系从句就是形容词从句。

1 关系从句特点

两个句子要有交叉(两个句子中 a man 和 he 是重复的，因为有这个交叉存在，两个句子就有了关系)：

• For boyfriend I’m looking for a man.
• He is tall, rich, and well-educated.

把交叉改为关系词的拼法(wh-)，让其产生连接词的功能：Who is tall, rich and well-educated.

合并：将关系从句放在主要从句的交叉点(名词)后面来形容它：For boyfriend I’m looking for a man who is tall, rich and well-educated.

由以上分析可看出，关系从句有一个很重要的特色：连接词是从句中含字眼的改写，而名词从句和副词从句的连接词是外加的：

• I know that I am right： i am right 是完整句子。
• I know this because I have proof： I have proof 是完整句子。
• I don’t trust people who talk too much：无连接词，把 they 改为 who。

2 关系代名词与关系副词

关系从句与主要从句的交叉点，可能是名词也可能是副词。改变为 wh- 后分别成为关系代名词与关系副词：

代名词	关系代名词	副词	关系副词
he (she, they)	who	then	when
it (they)	which	there	where
his (her, their, its)	whose	so	how
him (her, them)	whom	for a reason	why

3 关系代名词的省略

关系词之所以被省略，主要是句子中有重复的元素：和主要从句的先行词重复。可是除了是代名词的功能外，还有连接词的功能。假如关系词去掉后不影响句子的清楚性，就可以省略：

• The man is my uncle.
• You saw him just now：him 做宾语，合并时改为 whom。

关系代名词是宾语的话，位置应该在动词后面。可是要表示关系从句的开始，就要调到句首(这个调动和其省略有很大关系)：whom you saw just now.

合并：The man whom you saw just now is my uncle.

倘若将 whom 省略，由于 you saw just now 紧跟 the man，所以读者很清楚其在修饰 the man，所以 whom 可省略。反之如果关系代词是主语，就不可以省略了：

• The man is my uncle.
• He was here just now.

合并：The man who was here just now is my uncle. 此时的 who 就不可以省略。如果省略就会造成断句困难：The man was here now is my uncle. 补语中的也可以省略：

• He is not the man he used to be.
• He used to be the man：此处的 the man 和主从句重复，改写成关系代词 who，成为关系从句：who he used to be.

此处 who 是补语，不是宾语。所以不可以用 whom，但是一样可省略，原因是需要向前挪，所以和宾语一样，省略后不会造成断句难。

4 何时用 that

关系代名词 who 和 which 有时候可用 that 代替，that 具有指示功能，所以有指示的作用时才适合借用 that 做关系词：

• Man is an animal that is capable of reason.
• Meteorology is a science that deals with the behavior.

以上两句用 which 也不算错误。但是有些情况，因为指示要求很强烈，一般选用 that，如果用 who 或者 which 反而不恰当：

• Money is the only thing that interests him.
• He’s the best man that I can recommend.

这两个例子的指示意味很强烈，所以需要用 that。

5 何时不用 that

当缺乏指示功能就不用 that。如果关系从句只是补充说明的性质，应该用逗号和先行词隔开：

• For boyfriend, I’m considering your brother John, who is tall, rich：此处先行词 your brother John 是专有名词，听到后就知道是谁了，所以后面的从句不再具有指出是谁或哪种人的功能。因而关系从句只是在补充说明
• I like books, whatever the subject, that have illustrations：关系从句 that have illustrations 虽然放在逗号后面，可是这个逗号是和前一个逗号构成一组括弧，把 whatever the subject 括在里面，关系从句本身并不是放在括弧中作补充说明，它仍然是一个具有指示功能的从句，指出喜欢的书是哪一种，所以还是可以借用指示代名词 that。
• I like time classic words, which many people like, too：time classic words 是一本书，听到的人都知道，所以不需要额外的指示，属于补充说明的性质。而且，一旦有了逗号，两个从句已断开，which 虽然是宾语，也不适合省略了。

6 先行词的省略

关系代名词与先行词重复，有时候可以省略掉关系词。同样的有时候可以把先行词省略掉。如果要省略先行词，则此先行词必须是没有内容的空字眼比如：thing, people。其次关系从句与先行词之间不能有逗号断开。而且先行词是名词类，属于重要元素，不是可有可无的修饰语，所以一旦先行词省略，就需要在关系代词部分有所表示：

6.1 What

• I have the thing.
• You need it.

The thing 和 it 重复，建立两句关系，改为复合句：I have the thing that you need it。the thing 为先行词，that 为宾语。该句可有两种改变：

• I have the thing you need.
• I have what you need：the thing 是空字眼，可直接省略，但 the thing 省略后，主从句 I have 缺少宾语，关系从句 that you need 缺少修饰的名词，所以要加上 what。但在句型分析的时候也可以直接说 what you need 为 have 的宾语。

6.2 whoever

• I’ll shoot any person.
• He moves.

合并：

• I’ll shoot any person that moves.
• I’ll shot whoever moves：whoever moves 可看做名词从句，作为 shoot 的宾语。

6.3 which

• You can take any car.
• You like it.

合并：

• You can take any car that you like.
• You can take any car you like.
• You can take whichever you like.
• You can take whichever car you like.

7 关系从句的位置

标准：放在哪个位置最清楚就放在哪里。

例 1：

• There are two apples in the basket.
• The basket is lying on the table.

合并： There are two apples in the basket which is lying on the table.

例 2：

• You can find two apples in the basket.
• I bought the apples.

合并：

• You can find two apples which I bought in the basket：意思不清楚。
• You can find two apples in the basket which I bought：此处的先行词可能是 two apples，更可能是 basket。意思不清楚。
• In the basket you can find two apples which I bought：此时 in the basket 只能修饰 can find，关系从句中只有单一的先行词，意思才清楚。

例 3：

• A plague broke out.
• It lasted 20 years.

合并：

• A plague which lasted 20 years broke out：颠三倒四，不合逻辑。
• A plague broke out which last 20 years：虽然关系从句和先行词距离较远，但是没有别的名词妨碍，所以语义通顺

8 关系副词

如果关系从句中是以副词和主要从句中的先行词重复，就会改成关系副词，关系副词是副词类，所以比较自由省略。

8.1 When

例 1：

• The rain came at a time.
• The farmers needed it most then.

合并：

• The rain came at a time when the farmers needed it most.
• The rain came when the farmers needed it most：关系从句。
• The rain came at a time the farmers needed it most：关系从句。

例 2：

• I need some time.
• I can be with my daughter then.

合并：

• I need some time when I can be with my daughter.
• I need some time I can be with my daughter.
• I need when I can be with my daughter：错误的表达，因为 some time 虽然没有内容，而且重复，但属于名此类，不是可有可无的副词。

例 3：

• I know the time.
• He will arrive then.

合并：

• I know the time when he will arrive.
• I know the time he will arrive.
• I know when he will arrive：此处 the time 并不是先行词，后面的 when he will arrive 也并不是关系从句，而是名词从句。

8.2 Where

和 when 大同小异。

例 1：

• The car stopped at a place.
• Three roads met there.

合并：

The car stopped at a place where three roads met：at a place 和 where 任意省略一个。

例 1：

• The Johnsons have a place.
• Where they can get away from other people.

合并：

The Johnsons have a place they can get away from other people：不可省略 a place，而可省略 where。

8.3 How/why

So 改写的 how，for a reason 改写的 why。

• Can you show me the way.
• You pulled off that trick in that way.

合并：

• Can you show me the way how you pulled off that trick：此句的 how 应该省略，但是名此类 the way 不可以。
• Can you show me how you pulled off that trick：这句中的 how 从句应该视为 how did you pull off that trick，所以改为了名词从句。

9 有逗号隔开的关系从句

关系副词引导的关系从句用逗号隔开，原因和关系代名词一样：将逗号看做一组括弧，括弧中的关系从句起到补充说明的功能，失去了指示的功能。所以关系副词不可以用 that 代替，同时不能省略：

• The best museum in Taiwan is the Palace Museum.
• You can see our national treasures there.

合并：

The best museum in Taiwan is the Palace Museum, where you can see our national treasures：the palace museum 已经是个明确的地名，不需要进一步指认，所以需要用逗号隔开，当作补充说明。当然这里的 where 不能省略，因为逗号与正文切断开来。

9.1 Wh-ever 与副词从句

• Wh-ever 解释为 no matter wh-：表示让步、条件的语气，相当于副词从句。
• Wh-ever 解释为 anyone/anything that，就是关系从句省略到先行词，后面的从句当作名词从句解释，在主从句中扮演主语、宾语。
• Whatever (=No matter what) he may say, I won’t change my mind.
• Whatever (=Anything that) he may say won’t be true.
• Whichever (=No matter which) way you go, I’ll follow.
• Whichever way (=Any way that) you go is fine with me.