Chapter 1 / 第1章¶

Together Forever / 永不分离 Subjects and Predicates / 主语与谓语

We'll begin with declarative sentences (陈述句), sentences that make a statement instead of asking questions or giving orders. All of the examples you'll see in the next several chapters are declarative sentences.

我们将从陈述句开始——陈述句是做出陈述而非提问或下达命令的句子。接下来几章中你将看到的所有示例都是陈述句。

As we begin, it's helpful to know that declarative sentences in English usually follow this basic pattern:

在开始之前，了解英语陈述句通常遵循以下基本模式会很有帮助：

Subject (主语) + Predicate (谓语)

The subject comes first, and the predicate follows—usually.

主语在前，谓语在后——通常情况下如此。

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SUBJECT / 一切围绕主语¶

The subject is the star, the prima donna, of the sentence. It's the part of the sentence that names who or what the sentence is about.

主语是句子的明星、主角。它是句子中指明句子谈论的是谁或什么的部分。

The predicate always tells us something about the subject. Usually, the predicate tells us what the subject is doing (or has done), or it describes the subject.

谓语始终告诉我们关于主语的某些信息。通常，谓语告诉我们主语正在做什么（或已经做了什么），或者描述主语。

These very simple sentences follow the simple Subject + Predicate pattern:

以下非常简单的句子遵循简单的主语 + 谓语模式：

Subject (主语) + Predicate (谓语) Alice The cat Carroll Julie Fish Birds Hammerstein fell. smiled. wrote. sang. swim. fly. composed.

As these sentences illustrate, the subject and the predicate can each be only one word, so it's possible to write a complete declarative sentence in just two words. (We cheated with The cat smiled.) In longer sentences, which we'll see shortly, identifying the subjects and predicates of sentences becomes easy with practice.

正如这些句子所示，主语和谓语各自可以只是一个单词，因此用两个单词就可以写出一个完整的陈述句。（我们在 The cat smiled 上作弊了。）在更长的句子中——我们很快就会看到——通过练习，识别句子的主语和谓语会变得容易。

THE SIMPLE AND THE COMPLETE / 简单与完整¶

Every simple declarative sentence that we've seen contains a subject and a predicate, and the subject usually appears to the left of the predicate, at the beginning of the sentence or near it.

我们见过的每一个简单陈述句都包含一个主语和一个谓语，主语通常出现在谓语的左侧，即句子的开头或附近。

In these cases, the complete subject (完整主语) and the complete predicate (完整谓语) are each just one word long. There's one exception: The cat.

在这些情况下，完整主语和完整谓语各自只有一个单词长。有一个例外：The cat。

We can add more words to those subjects and predicates. We can add modifiers (修饰语), words that describe the subject and the predicate:

我们可以向这些主语和谓语添加更多单词。我们可以添加修饰语，即描述主语和谓语的词：

Birds Most fly. birds in the United States fly well.

In this longer sentence, we call birds the simple subject (简单主语) and fly the simple predicate (简单谓语).

在这个较长的句子中，我们称 birds 为简单主语，称 fly 为简单谓语。

We call Most birds in the United States the complete subject, and we call fly well the complete predicate. That is, the simple subject and all its modifiers make up the complete subject. And the simple predicate with all its modifiers is the complete predicate.

我们称 Most birds in the United States 为完整主语，称 fly well 为完整谓语。也就是说，简单主语及其所有修饰语构成完整主语；简单谓语及其所有修饰语构成完整谓语。

So, in Birds fly, the simple subject and the complete subject are identical, and so are the simple and complete predicates.

因此，在 Birds fly 中，简单主语与完整主语相同，简单谓语与完整谓语也相同。

Here are more examples, with the simple subjects and predicates in boldface:

以下更多示例，简单主语和简单谓语以粗体显示：

A beautiful day like today comes too seldom. Mary's cat ran away yesterday.

As the examples above show, some modifiers appear immediately before the word they modify: A, beautiful, Mary's, too. But some modifiers can appear afterward, too: like today, seldom, away, yesterday.

如上述示例所示，有些修饰语紧邻其所修饰的词之前出现：A、beautiful、Mary's、too。但有些修饰语也可以出现在之后：like today、seldom、away、yesterday。

In the next examples, we begin with the sentence Irises grow. In each example, the simple subject and predicate are in bold; the complete predicate is underlined; and the rest of the sentence (the part not underlined) is the complete subject:

在接下来的示例中，我们从句子 Irises grow 开始。每个示例中，简单主语和简单谓语以粗体显示，完整谓语加下划线，句子的其余部分（未加下划线的部分）为完整主语：

Irises grow. Sometimes irises grow well near the garage. In the spring irises grow well in our garden.

Here again, some modifiers of grow appear immediately before or after the word they modify: well, near the garage, in our garden. And some modifiers of the predicate can even appear at some distance from grow: Sometimes, In the spring.

这里同样地，grow 的一些修饰语紧邻其所修饰的词之前或之后出现：well、near the garage、in our garden。而谓语的一些修饰语甚至可以与 grow 相隔一定距离：Sometimes、In the spring。

Here are some more pairs of sentences, with the simple subject and the simple predicate in bold type and the complete predicate underlined:

以下更多成对句子，简单主语和简单谓语以粗体显示，完整谓语加下划线：

Many birds in the U. S. fly south in the winter. In the winter, many birds in the U. S. fly south. Oscar Hammerstein composed rapidly in the winter of 1927. In the winter of 1927, Oscar Hammerstein composed rapidly.

As you see in the second sentence of each pair, parts of the complete predicate can appear before the subject. This is a common sentence pattern, and we'll have more to say about it in later chapters.

如每对句子中的第二句所示，完整谓语的部分可以出现在主语之前。这是一种常见的句型，我们将在后续章节中详细讨论。

TRANSPOSED ORDER / 倒装语序¶

In some sentences, it's possible to put the entire predicate before the subject; this is called transposed order (倒装语序，也称 inverted order / 倒置语序). In the following sentences, the simple subjects and predicates are in bold type, and the complete predicate is underlined:

在某些句子中，可以将整个谓语放在主语之前；这称为倒装语序（也称倒置语序）。在以下句子中，简单主语和简单谓语以粗体显示，完整谓语加下划线：

Softly fell the rain. Gently came the dawn. Into the quiet village roared the steam locomotive.

Use transposed order with restraint, or it can become just a way of showing off with words.

使用倒装语序要有节制，否则它可能变成一种炫耀文字的方式。

In the next few chapters, we'll learn more about subjects, predicates, and modifiers.

在接下来的几章中，我们将学习更多关于主语、谓语和修饰语的知识。

EXERCISES / 练习¶

Answers to these exercises are in the back of the book. After you answer one set, check your answers before you go on—sometimes the answers will help you with the next set.

这些练习的答案在书末。完成一组练习后，在继续之前先检查答案——有时答案会帮助你完成下一组练习。

1a. Write the definitions of the simple subject and the simple predicate.

1a. 写出简单主语和简单谓语的定义。

1b. In the following sentences, identify the simple subject and the simple predicate. To help you, the complete predicate is underlined.

1b. 在以下句子中，找出简单主语和简单谓语。为帮助你，完整谓语已加下划线。

1. Rain falls.
2. Edward knocked at the door.
3. In the morning, the family ate on the porch.
4. In the morning, pancakes seemed like a good idea.
5. Into the night, into the darkness, recklessly rode Rudolpho.

1c. You'll get no help with these! Once again, identify the simple subject and the simple predicate. Then identify the complete subject and the complete predicate.

1c. 这些题不会给你任何提示！再次找出简单主语和简单谓语，然后找出完整主语和完整谓语。

1. Wendell behaved politely.
2. Tonight that nice family ate on the porch again.
3. Backward ran sentences. [Modified from Wolcott Gibbs.]
4. In the spring, the calla lilies were in bloom again.
5. This morning Rudolpho was waiting on the porch for breakfast.