英語修辭與寫作·7.1　句子的語法分類與修辭上的多樣化

7.1　句子的語法分類與修辭上的多樣化

7.1A　句子的語法分類

一般語法書都是從兩個角度對句子進(jìn)行分類：

1） 從使用上看，有陳述句（Declarative sentence）、疑問句（Interrogative sentence）、祈使句（Imperative sentence）和感嘆句（Exclamatory sentence）等。

2） 從結(jié)構(gòu)上看，有簡單句（Simple sentence）、并列句（Compound sentence）、復(fù)合句（Complex sentence）和并列復(fù)合句（Compound complex sentence）等。

復(fù)合句亦稱包孕句（Embedding sentence），即句子（主句）里面包含句子（分句）的意思。

凡結(jié)構(gòu)正確，包括動詞的時體、語態(tài)和語氣變化，名詞、代詞數(shù)、性、格的使用，限定詞的搭配，以及大小寫、標(biāo)點符號等都符合英語的通常使用規(guī)則與習(xí)慣，那就是語法上正確的句子。

7.1B　修辭上的句式多樣化

1） 著名英國作家、評論家和辭書編纂家Samuel Johnson說：“The joy of life is variety”。英國戲劇家和小說家Aphra Behn說：“Variety is the soul of pleasure”。寫作也是如此。修辭上對句子的要求除了語法正確，還講求句子形式的變化。這主要表現(xiàn)在兩個方面：一是采用不同的句型，二是合理安排長句與短句。例如下面這段文章都是簡單句，結(jié)構(gòu)上一律“主—謂”句型，因而讀來單調(diào)乏味：

I sit here at this keyboard. I try to think of things to say. The words are not coming very freely. I think that is probably because it is the end of a long day. It may be that I am tired. I am smack up against writer's block. Free writing may help me break through the wall.

如果像下面這樣稍加變化，就帶來了句式較為多樣化的效果，顯得較為生動和流暢，節(jié)奏感也有了：

I sit here at this keyboard trying to think of things to say, but the words aren't coming very freely. Probably, they aren't coming because it's the end of a long day, and I'm tired. Whatever the reason, I'm smack up against writer's block. Perhaps free writing will help me break through the wall.

（Charles W. Bridges & Ronald F. Lunshford:Writing:　 Discovering Form and Meaning）

2） 有些句子的修辭功能是在一定的上下文里表現(xiàn)出來的，如“修辭疑問句”（Rhetorical question）形式上是個疑問句，但不是讓別人回答，而是為了達(dá)到某種修辭目的，如用來提出所要表達(dá)的主題，作為段落過渡，或作為強(qiáng)調(diào)等，是人們在演說或?qū)懽髦袑崿F(xiàn)句式多樣化的一個常用形式。例如：

英國散文家Hilaire Belloc在The Historian中開頭就是一個修辭疑問句：

What is the historian?

The historian is he who tells a true story in writing ...

Michael Harrington連用的幾個修辭疑問句具有很強(qiáng)的號召力：

Yet this need not be. The means are at hand to fulfill the age-old dream: poverty can be abolished. How long shall we ignore this underdeveloped nation in our mist? How long shall we look the other way while our fellow human beings suffer? How long?

讀了Rupert Brooke下面這段文字，就會發(fā)現(xiàn)作者通過修辭疑問句避免了平鋪直敘的寫法，起到了突出主題和引起讀者興趣的作用：

But Toronto — Toronto is the subject. One must say something — What must one say about Toronto? What can one? What has anybody ever said? It is impossible to give it anything but commendation. It is not squalid like Birmingham, or cramped like Canton, or scattered like Edmonton, or sham like Berlin, or hellish like New York, or tiresome like Nice. It is all right. The only depressing thing is that it will always be what it is, only larger, and that no Canadian city can ever be anything better or more different. If they are good they may become Toronto.

在下面幾節(jié)里討論的掉尾句和松散句、漸進(jìn)句和突降句、省略句和重復(fù)句等6種句子，是相互對應(yīng)的3組句型，是修辭學(xué)中經(jīng)常涉及的一些句式，使用得當(dāng)，就有助于實現(xiàn)表達(dá)形式多樣化，增強(qiáng)表達(dá)效果。