英語修辭與寫作·7.2　掉尾句和松散句

7.2　掉尾句和松散句

7.2A　掉尾句

1） 掉尾句（Periodic sentence）是一種把關(guān)鍵意思放在整句末尾、因而要讀完全句才能了解該句完整含義的句子結(jié)構(gòu)；從語法上看，掉尾句是一個(gè)不可分割的語言單位。例如：

Just before I went away to college, my father took me aside, as I had expected, and said, as I had not expected, “Now, Son, if a strange woman comes up to you on a street corner and offers to take your watch around the corner and have it engraved, don't do it.”

這個(gè)長句是掉尾句，一直要讀到最后的句號才能明白全句的意思，而其中父親對兒子的話也是一個(gè)掉尾句，只有聽他講到“don't do it”才能明白他要說什么。

2） 掉尾句的特點(diǎn)是把整句的主要部分（如復(fù)合句的主句或主句的主要成份）置于末尾處，形成整句的高潮，從而達(dá)到突出該部分內(nèi)容的目的，所以，掉尾句屬于一種修辭強(qiáng)調(diào)句。例如：

But if life hardly seems worth living, if liberty is used for subhuman purposes, if the pursuers of happiness know nothing about the nature of their quarry or the elementary techniques of hunting, these constitutional rights will not be very meaningful.

（Aldouds Haxley）

作者是用3個(gè)if引導(dǎo)的從句引出主句，達(dá)到突出主句的目的。

3） 掉尾句是一種比較正式的書面語體，結(jié)構(gòu)上沒有固定模式，多數(shù)情況下是把較長的狀語提前，而把較短的主句留到最后。注意下面這個(gè)掉尾句卻是以并列結(jié)構(gòu)形成的長主語先出現(xiàn)，后面再出謂語，同樣鏗鏘有力：

Whoever wishes to be made well acquainted with the morbid anatomy of governments, whoever wishes to know how great states may be made feeble and wretched, should study the history of Spain.

（Thomas Babington Macaulay）

7.2B　松散句

1） 松散句（Loose sentence）不同于掉尾句，它不要求把某個(gè)部分特意留到句尾，而是想到哪里說到哪里。例如：

Angela Mina lives in a very poor country where many children born die before their first birthday. Over 75% of all children suffer some forms of malnutrition, and unclean water, disease, civil conflict, and natural disaster are all challenges to the survival for many children and their families.

（The Atlantic, Jan. 1993）

并列句是一種松散句，它的分句各自表達(dá)比較完整的意思，并且前后次序常?？梢灶嵉?。主句在前、從句在后的復(fù)合句也可算是一種松散句，因?yàn)橐话阏f來主句表示的是整句意思的主體部分，而從句是表示次要部分，如補(bǔ)充、修飾等。松散句中的分句通常可以改成獨(dú)立的句子。

2） 同前面的掉尾句相反，松散句不屬嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)?shù)恼轿捏w，而適用于一種自然樸實(shí)的文風(fēng)。例如：

He was an inch, perhaps two, under six feet, powerfully built, and he advanced straight at you with a slight stoop of the shoulders, head forward, and a fixed from-under stare which made you think of a charging bull. His voice was deep, loud, and his manner displayed a kind of dogged self-assertion which had nothing aggressive in it. It seemed a necessity, and it was directed apparently as much of himself as of anybody else. He was spotlessly neat, apparelled in immaculate white from shoes to hat, and in the various Eastern parts where he got his living as ship-chandler's water-clerk he was very popular.

這是英國作家Joseph Conrad的小說Lord Jim的開頭一段。作者使用了一連串松散句，把他的故事以輕松的口氣隨意道來，直到最后一句的后半部分，即從and開始作者才改變句子結(jié)構(gòu)，以倒裝掉尾句的形式使“he was very popular”得到強(qiáng)調(diào)。這個(gè)小小的段落表明，優(yōu)秀作家是多么善于做到句式多樣化！