Which特殊用法探究.doc

Which特殊用法探究
湖北老河口市高级中学 余剑 （441800）（13797583224）
请先看下列一道高考题：
1. He may win the competition, ________he is likely to get into the national team.（2013辽宁卷）
A. in which case B. in that case C. in what case D. in whose case
此题答案为A。笔者翻阅了教科书和一些教辅资料以及询问了周围的同事，他们就in which case这一语言点的解释为介词+关系代词引导的非限制性定语从句，当然也有人说不能解释清楚的就告诉同学们这是个固定习惯用法，大家记清楚就可以了，以后出现这种题目就使用这种形式。我个人认为这一解释不够周全，所谓授人以鱼不如授之以渔，碰到某些语法语言现象我们应该探根究底从本质上来理解。笔者在查阅了大量的词典和资料之后现补充一些例子说明如下，能对同学们有更好了解和帮助。
《实用英语语法》（张道真编著，外研社，1995，P96）说：which代表事物，用作关系代词可引导定语从句，在限制性定语从句中可以作主语或宾语。如：Do you still remember the day which we first spent together? 此句可分为两分句进行理解。
Do you still remember the day?
We first spent the day together.
划线部分为先行词充当spent的宾语，可使用代词which代替。在非限制性定语从句中，which指代前面主句的整个内容。如：
①She failed in the exam, which was natural.
②He is an honest boy, which anyone can see.
这是有关which的最基本常见的一个用法，而就in which case这种语言现象，《英语常见问题解答大词典》（赵振才编著，世界图书出版社，2009，P682）是这样作出解释的，有时候用抽象名词（fact，case，event，situation，time，failure，point，claim等）来总结整个主句的情况或句子部分内容，而用关系代词which来作抽象名词的限定词，这样就和主句发生了关联，在这种情况下，which实际上起着同位语的作用。但在《2010考研英语语法突破》（胡敏编著，高等教育出版社，2009，P239）认为这是一种特殊的定语从句。引导词which之前带介词，之后修饰名词，这一名词的加入完全是为了表达更明确，使意义更完整。常见的搭配包括：at which point （在这时），at which time（在这时），by which time（到这时为止），during which time （在此期间），for which reason（由于这个原因），in which case（在这种情况下）等。但我个人认为Which除了作关系代词外，在严格意义上来讲应作关系限定词（used to refer back to the preceding or statement）用以复指前文的名词或内容，主要起修饰作用，表示“这个，这些，这样的”的意思，也就是说在in which case中which不是关系代词，而是关系限定词。如人教社新编教材高二《英语》上册（P29）课后阅读中的问题：
Make a timeline that shows which poets were living during which century. Put all the foreign poets named in the reading passage on the timeline and include the names of some famous Chinese poets that you know.(划线部分which译为“这段，这个”的意思)，which作为关系限定词也可引导非限制性定语从句。如：
1.The postman comes at 6:30 in the morning, at which time I am usually fast asleep.邮差每天早上6点半就来了，但在那时我还在梦乡里。
2.The questions were all opera, about which subject I know nothing.这些问题都是关于戏剧的，我对它一无所知。
3.The speaker paused to examine his notes, at which point a loud crash was heard.演讲人停下来看讲稿，这时听到一声巨响。
4. She may have missed the train, in which case she won't arrive for another hour. 她有可能没有赶上火车，那样再过一个小时她也到不了。
5. In 1960 he came to London, in which city he has lived ever since.1960年，他来到伦敦，自此在该城一直住到现在。
6. The picking of the fruit, for which work they receive no money, takes about a week.采摘水果，这项工作没有工资，大约花一周时间。
巩固练习：
1. Mark was a student at his university from 1999 to 2003, _______ he studied very hard and was made chairman of the Students’ Union.（2005重庆卷）
A. during which time B. for which time C. during whose time D. by that time
2. The journey around the world took the old sailor nine months; ________the sailing time was 226 days. (2004全国卷)　
A. of which B. during which C. from which D. for which
3. He lived in London for 3 months, during________ time he picked up some English.
A. this B. which C. that D. whose
4. In the office I never seem to have time until after 6 p.m, ________all my workmates have gone home.
A. that B. which C. whose time D. by which time