But连词的用法探讨_学术英语论文

    but 作为连词在大多数情况下都用作并列连词,但有时在一些固定结构中也可用作从属连词。
    一、用作并列连词
    作为并列连词,but 可以连接两个并列的分句或者两个并列的成份,译为“但是”,“可是”。能表示下列意义:
    1、表示意义转折。例如:
    they are tired but happy.
    i was going to write, but i lost your address.
    not one but two!
    2、表示对比或对照,通常与否定词连用。例如:
    he is not good at maths, but he is good at english.
    he scarcely knows french, but he speaks english perfectly.
    3、出现在句首或句与句之间,表示异议,惊奇或吃惊。如:
    a:i have won the long jump.
    b:but that's wonderful!
    4、用在表示歉意的词语之后,引起一个句子,长不能译为“但是”,可以不译出。如:
    i'm sorry, but i can't come.
    excuse me, but can you tell me the way to the library?
    固定短语:1、not only … but (also) … 这是一组关联并列连词,表示其所连接的成份在意义上后一项对前一项的补充和引申,但侧重点在后一项上,意思是“不但……而且……”。但使用这一组关联并列连词必须注意两点:
    (1)、当 not only … but also 连接两个并列成份作主语时,其谓语动词的形式按照就近原则来确定。
    (2)、当 not only … but also 连接两个并列成份时采用部分倒装形式,即倒装 not only 分句,而 but also 分句则采用陈述句语序。如:
    △ not only the mother but also the children are sick.
    △ not only is he interested in the subject but also all his students are beginning to show interested in it.
    有时,but 和 also 可以被分隔使用。如:
    she was not only compelled to stay at home but she also forbidden to see her friends.
    有时,but also 能被 but … as well 所取代。如:
    he can not only speak english but french as well.
    2、but then, 意思是“不过,另一方”,相当于 nevertheless, on the other hand”。如:she speaks english fluently, but then she did live in london for four years.3、not that … but that … 引导两个并的原因状语从句,that 相当于 because, 意思是“不是因为 …… 而是因为 ……”。如:
    i haven't worked out the maths problem, not that i have no time for it, but that i can't work it out. 有时 not that … but that … 结构可单独出现。如:
    not that i won't go, but that i don't know which is the way to go.
    二、用作从属连词。
    but 在一些固定结构中作从属连词,引导状语从句和名词从句。
    1、引导条件状语从句。
    but that 可以用来引导条件状语从句,意思是“倘若,要不是”。《牛津现代高级英汉双解词典》和一些语法书上将此结构中的 but 看成介词,that 则引导了特殊的介词宾语从句,但是《牛津现代高级英汉双解词典》和章振帮先生所着《新编语法》等认为 but that 为复杂从属连词, but that 从句为条件状语从句,本人倾向于后一种看法。 that 从句一般不作介词补足成分,将 but that 理解为复杂从属连词,有助于确切理解从句 but that 的真正意义, but that 从句用陈述语气,而主句则常用虚拟语气,but that 从句可以同否定的 if 从句互换。
    例如:
    but that you lent him a large sum of money, he would have gone bankrupt.
    此句可改为:
    if you hadn't lent him a large sum of money, he would have gone bankrupt.
    有时 but that 从句出现于含有 not 的主句之后,意思是:“只有…… 才 ……”。例如:he will not find the answer but that he studies it thoroughly.
    he will not come but that he is asked.
    2、引导比较状语从句。
    用 no sooner … but … 结构引导比较状语从句,but 相当于 than 如:
    it no sooner started raining but it stopped.
    3、用 not but that (what) 结构引导让步状语从句,意思是“虽然,诚然”。如:
    he is very strong — not but that he will catch cold sometimes. 意思为“他身体很强壮,虽然有时会患感冒”。
    i've never walked that far, not but what i could do it if i tried. 意思为:我从来没走那么远,虽然我要走还是可以走。
    4、引导结果状语从句。
    (1)not so … but (that/what)… 或 not such a … but,意思为“不是如此……以致于不”。其中 but 的意思是接近于“that … not …”。例如:
    he is not such a fool but that he can see through mary.
    (2)否定句+but(that)+从句,意思为“每当……总是……”,其中 but 相当于“that…not …”,通过双重否定来表达肯定的因果关系。例如:
    i never go past my old school but i think of the happy years i spent there.
    意思为:“每当我走过我的母校时,我都想起我在那儿度过的快乐岁月。”
    5、引导名词性从句,常用于下列结构中:
    i didn't doubt/denty/question but that…
    there is no doubt/question but(that)…
    这些结构中的 but 或 but that 并无实在意义,相当于连词 that 。例如:
    there is no doubt but he is the quilty one,意思为:“毫无疑问,犯罪的就是他”。
    在实际应用中,but 用作连词和介词容易混淆。如果 but 被看作连词,其后的人称代词可以被看成是一个省略的谓语部分的主语。应该是主格形式。例如:
    everyone lost fainth in the plan but she.
    no one found the answer but she.
    更为常见的是 but 用作介词,这样其后的人称代词“she”可改为格“her”。
    但是,一般说来,but 和其后的人称代词如果置于谓语动词之前,人称代词用主格形式。如:
    evryone but she lost fainth in the plan.
    no one but she found the answer.
    至此,本文较为详细地归纳了 but 作为连词时的用法,深入地探

  

讨了 but 作为并列连词和从属连词及其固定短语的意义和用法,并配以实例说明。这样对于我们理解含有 but 的句子尤其是含有 but 的双重否定句将有一定作用。オ
    参考文献:
    (1)robert b lostello\ 1995.《random house webster's college dictionary》.\ new york:random house.
    (2)章振帮1990《新编语法》上海:上海译文出版社
    (3)李此达1994《牛津现代高级英汉双解词典》牛津大学出版社课堂练习的几个设计