前阵一位中学部老师出一选择曰:
Would you please tell me _______ you have bought this fur coat?
A. who B.which C.to whom D.for whom
乍看之下颇是简单,遂寻语感得答案D。不料该老师称此陷阱是也,顾再看,不得要领,遂请教。故事始于此也。
该老师称,英语中宾语从句不可以介词引导开头,所以答案只能选择A,取自原句的buy sb. sth.。但个人认为此种选法不可取。英语中双宾结构通常表现为v.+sb+sth,将其进行句型变换后可得v.+sth+prep.+sb。
但根据英语语言习惯和语法本身:
1、双宾结构提问若对直接宾语提问,介词若为TO,即表对象关系,则不可对v.+sth+prep.+sb提问,因为对象关系不能构成状语结构(虽然其表象而言,介宾词组类似状语)。如:I gave him a book. => What did you give him? (正),I gave a book to him. => What did you give to him? (误)。
2、双宾结构提问若对直接宾语提问,介词若为TO以外介词,即不表对象关系,则对v.+sb+sth和v.+sth+prep.+sb均可提问,因为该类介词加上间接宾语后往往可以构成状语结构,因此两种句型皆可提问。如:I bought him a book. => What did you buy him? (正),I bought a book for him. (此处for him可理解为目的状语)=> What did you buy for him? (正)。
*英语中的状语结构包括如下9种:地点状语、时间状语、方式状语、原因状语、目的状语、结果状语、比较状语、条件状语、让步状语。偶尔有些书籍因语法体系不同,可能会有一、两种非主流状语命名方式,此处不作讨论。
3、双宾结构提问若对见解宾语提问,则不可对v.+sb+sth提问,因为抽取出间接宾语sb后,v.直接接sth会与v.+sth+prep+sb混淆,引起语法歧义,因此摈弃该种提问方式,均采用对v.+sth+prep.+sb提问的方式。如:
I gave him a book.=> Who did you give the book? (误),I gave him a book.=> Who did you give the book to? / To whom did you give the book? (正)