2024年1月11日发(作者：)
英语句法讲座
Lecture 3
修饰语问题：
学生在修饰语的运用上出现的问题主要是两方面：修饰语误置和悬垂修饰语。
1． 修饰语误置
修饰语误置指的是由于修饰语放置的位置有误，而使它错误地修饰限定了作者意图之外的词语。这种错误往往会不同程度 1
地影响作者思想意图的表达，导致句子的语义发生混乱，让读者困惑不解。
例如：
Faulty: Tony bought an old car from a
crooked dealer with a faulty
transmission.
Revised: Tony bought an old car with a
faulty transmission from a crooked
dealer.
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Faulty: Bill yelled at the howling dog in
his underwear.
Revised: Bill, in his underwear, yelled at
the howling dog.
要避免这种错误，最有效的方法就是尽量把修饰语同它的修饰对象放在一起。
2． 悬垂修饰语
修饰语（如分词、不定式等，通常作状语）如果放在句首，其逻辑主语必须与句 3
子的主语保持一致。换句话说，如果修饰语放在句首，它的修饰对象必须紧随其后，否则，这修饰语就失去了“依靠”，成为所谓的“悬垂修饰语”。而句子本身要表达的原意也会被扭曲，变得模糊不清。例如：
Faulty: While smoking a pipe, my dog
sat with me by the crackling fire.一句看上去就成了“我的狗”在吸烟了。修饰语 4
while smoking a pipe 脱离了被修饰语而被“悬”了起来。这种错误的出现也是很大程度上受了汉语“意合”的表达方式的影响，忘记了英语对“形合”的严格要求。
对上述悬垂修饰语的修改可有两种方式，要么把被修饰语提前，如：
While smoking a pipe, I sat with my dog
by the crackling fire. 要么也可以在修饰语中加上一个主语，这样也可以避免语义 5
上的混乱：
While I was smoking my pipe, my dog
sat with me by the crackling fire.
再举两个例子：
Faulty: Swimming at the lake, a rock cut
Jim's foot.
Revised: Swimming at the lake, Jim cut
his foot on a rock.
Or: When Jim was swimming at
the
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lake, he cut his foot on a rock.
Faulty: To join the team, a “C” average
or better is necessary.
Revised: To join the team, you must
have a “C” average or better.
Or : For you to join the team, a “C”
average or better is necessary.
找出下列各句中的误置或悬垂修饰语并改写句子，使句意明确。
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Examples:
While sleeping at the campsite, a
Frisbee hit Bill on the head.
While Bill was sleeping at the
campsite, a Frisbee hit him on the head.
1. The students no longer like the maths
teacher who failed the test.
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2. Braking the car suddenly, my shopping
bags tumbled off the seat.
3. We could see the football stadium
driving across the bridge.
4. I adopted a dog from a junkyard which
is very close to my heart.
5. Joining the Glee Club, the social life of
Mike became more active.
6. Bill swatted the wasp that stung him
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with a newspaper.
7. Looking through the telescope, a
brightly-lit object came into my view.
8. Roger visited the old house still weak
with the flu.
9. Advertising in the paper, Frank's car
was quickly sold.
10. Tim and Rita decided to send their
daughter to college on the day she was
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born.
11. Hubert found it difficult to mount the
horse wearing tight jeans.
12. I almost caught a hundred lightning
bugs.
13. While talking on the telephone, the
chicken soup boiled over.
14. When overweight, desserts are
especially tempting.
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15. Standing at the ocean's edge, the cool
wind made me feel very comfortable.
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