在英语语法中,“get被动式”表示在句子或从句中,主语承受动词的动作,其形式为——get+动词过去分词。对于get的这种主动语态表示被动语义的特性,我们不妨将它视为这是get动词的特性。与其它使用be动词表示的传统被动语态不同,get被动语态在口语中比书面语中应用更为普遍。
1. 示例和观察
英语中的被动语态通常由“to be”动词(即be动词的各种形态)构成,例如,“they were fired,”“the tourist was robbed。”但我们也有“get”型被动式,例如,“they got fired,”“the tourist got robbed。”“get被动式”的应用至少可以追溯到300前,但是在过去的50年应用得到迅速提升,它常常与对主语来说是坏消息的语境有密切的关系——“got fired”,“got robbed”——但也应用于一些获益的语境。 (They got promoted. The tourist got paid.) 然而,随着时间的推移,对于其用法的限制可能会放宽,“get被动式”获得进一步应用的可能性可能会更大。下面是一些例子:
(1) This was all there was of the family now, but there used to be more--three sons; they got killed; and Emmeline that died.
这就是现在这个家庭的全部,但过去还有更多——三个儿子;他们被杀了;还有死去的Emmeline。
(2) [An American Werewolf in London is] about two American guys in their early twenties hiking across the Yorkshire moors. And both of them get attacked by a werewolf.
[伦敦的美国狼人] 讲述了两个二十出头的美国人徒步穿越Yorkshire荒野的故事。 他们俩都被狼人袭击了。
(3) Liz, don't you think there's something suspicious about this guy's ringing up right away to ask if we got chosen for the show?
Liz,你不觉得这家伙马上打电话问我们是否被选中参加演出有什么可疑之处吗?
(4) [I]f we don't do him in for killing us, and we get blown to smithereens, and he doesn't, he'll only get twenty years in clink.
如果我们不因为他杀了我们而惩罚他,我们被炸成碎片,而他没有,他只会被判二十年监禁。
(5) So what happened was, we got together and we drafted this letter. She was a Black woman from Texas. And when I took a stand for this traveler, she got canned, and I got canned, and they canned this other woman, just to make it look like it wasn't a personal thing.
所以我们一起起草了这封信。她是一位来自Texas的黑人女性。当我为这个旅行者辩护时,她被解雇了,我被解雇了,他们解雇了另一个女人,只是为了让这看起来不是个人的事情。
(6) Liz got suckered into taking the graveyard shift at the All-Night Party the same way she'd gotten suckered into every other thankless task in her long parental career ...
Liz 在通宵派对上被吸引到墓地轮班,就像她在她漫长的育儿生涯中被吸引到其他所有吃力不讨好的任务一样......
(7) Sometimes people are afraid to call and talk to someone because they are afraid they will get pressured into something, but they will call and listen to a message.
有时人们害怕打电话和与某人交谈,因为他们害怕他们会受到压力去做某事,但他们会打电话和听信息。
2. 动态意义
“get被动式”被认为是非正式格式,由于这个原因,在有时候不太鼓励这种用法。然而,这种结构在阐明整个结构的含义涉及一种行为或事件而不是一种状态时,是一种非常有用的方式。试对比:
They got married. (他们结婚了。)
The chair got broken. (这把椅子被弄坏了。)
下列句子则带有歧义性:
They were married.
The chair was broken.
后面的这两个句子具有歧义性,因为他们可以指结婚,或者破裂的过程,但是也可以指结婚或破裂的状态。因为“get”具有一种更为动态的意义,“get被动式”常用于我们对自己所做的动作(例如,“get dressed”)。当这个动词所表示的动作是由其他人执行的时候,“get被动式”可以隐含主语的所指对象以在某种程度上对所发生的事负责,或者无论如何是有原因的。例如句子:
He got picked up by the police. (他被警察抓了起来。)
She got involved in an argument. (她卷入一场争论。)
The car got found abandoned. (这辆车被发现被遗弃。)
对比于:
He was picked up by the police.
She was involved in an argument.
The car was found abandoned.
3. Get被动式的特征
从文献(literature)中可以看出,“get被动式”的定义特征包括以下内容,这些特征可用于诊断,以测试其是否是“get被动式”:
a. “get被动式”通常用于没有施事者(agent或agentis)的结构。
b. “get被动式”强调主语而非施事者,强调所发生的事情对主语的影响。
c. “get被动式”强调主语所指的条件,通常是不受欢迎的条件。
d. “get被动式”描述对主语来说其结果是幸运或者不幸后果的感受。
e. “get被动式”往往以人作主语,但是他不是施事者,受影响或者被卷入。
4. 与Get被动式形似(look-alike)的句子
与“to be”动词被动式一样,看起来像“get被动式”的句子可能实际上是一个主动语态句子。在形似的主要类型中,get含义为“become”并且后接分词形容词。先看下例句子:
(1) His explanation is getting complicated.
他的解释越来越复杂。
(句中,“get”表达的是一种“正变得”或者“正演变成”一种状态或者一种条件的思想。)
(2) His explanation is becoming complicated.
他的解释越来越复杂。
(3) Fred got examined by a specialist.
Fred接受了专家的检查。
(4) The mail gets delivered every day.
邮件每天都会送达。
(5) My letter to the editor got published in the Sunday Times.
我给编辑的信发表在《星期日泰晤士报》上。
(6) Janice got promoted last week.
Janice上周升职了。
以上句子(1)看起来像一个短小的“get”被动式,但实际上,它是一个主动语态的句子,句中的过去分词complicated是一个分词形容词。句子(2)可以像句子(1)一样解释。然而,“get”被动式也可以用于描述没有不利(adverse)含义的事件,例如(3)、(4)、(5),也可以用于描述有利于主语的动作,例如(6)。
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