--------------------英语句法——词序(order of words)--------------------
1. 英语词汇排布的最常用的原则。——首先要考虑的东西应该先提到，要同时考虑的事物应该紧密联系一起。
在词尾变换的语言中，一个词与另一个词的关系通过词尾变化来表示。在这一点上，英语主要依靠词在句中的位置来表示；因此，在英语中，词在句中的词序相比古典语言更为固定。
谓语的补语紧跟在谓语之后：例如——
“the day is clear.”
当补语是名词的时候，我们通过其位置来区分主语和补语:例如——
“angles are spirits.”
2. 主语与动词的词序原则。
2.1 一般原则。——主语在动词之前：例如——
“the stars twinkle”(星星闪烁)
2.2 例外情况。
2.1.1 没有使用疑问代词作主格的疑问句：例如——
“are ye alone”(ye=you)。
2.1.2 祈使语气的句子：例如——
“come ye”。
2.1.3 连词被抑制的条件语气句子：例如——
“had I know that;” “were I in his place。”
2.1.4 表达一种愿意或者一种感叹的句子：例如——
“may she be happy;” “how would we wish that Heaven had left us still—”。
2.1.5 使用“neither”或“nor”，表示“and not”(两者都否定)的句子：例如——
“this was his fear，nor was the apprehension groundless” (这就是他的恐惧，而且这种恐惧也不是没有根据的。)
2.1.6 引用一段对话的一部分的句子：例如——
“said he;” “thought I;” “replied James”。
2.1.7 基于强调的目的，使用“there”，“here”，“where”或其它副词引导的句子：例如——
“up started he;”“now abideth faith，hope，clarity”(abideth，古英语，“常常”)。
3. 动词与宾语的词序原则。
3.1 一般原则。——及物动词位于其宾语之前。
3.2 例如情况。
3.2.1 宾语是关系代词或疑问代词的句子：例如——
“this is the letter that he wrote.”。
3.2.2 基于强调的句子：例如——
“treason and murder he had been taught early in life to expect from everybody.”(强调的内容往往放在句首，第一眼就能见到的内容才具有强调的效果。)
3.2.3 与前面的句子关联更紧密的句子。
在英语中，这种倒装不是很实用，容易引起歧义。脱离了上下文环境，我们甄别主语和宾语的唯一方法只有靠词序。因此，下面的表达句它们本身是不确定的：
“when thus the son the fervent sire addressed;”
“life every man holds dear.”
当主语或宾语其中一个是代词的时候，是允许使用倒装的。在带有代词“it”的表示“giving”(给予),“sending”(发送)，“telling”(告知)含义的动词结构中，人称修饰语放在最后：例如——“give it me；” “tell it him；” “he sent it us.” “give me it”是苏格兰风格。
(注：在英语中，可以将间接宾语放在直接宾语前面而不使用前置词，例如，上面例子写成这样也是正确的：“give me it；” “tell him it” “he sent us it.”，如果从“语法正确”的角度看，上面的例子应该加上前置词，“give it to me；” “tell it to him；” “he sent it to us.” 对于这种不同用法，解释是这样的——“‘give it me’这种风格在英国北部的演说中非常普遍，但是，英国南部的很多演说家也接受这种说法，” 对于这种现象，不能用语法规则去解释，只能说是习惯用法，如果是应试，那就规规矩矩地按语法来，加上前置词“to”，但是要有这种意识，在很多英语本语作者的著作中，出现这种现象，你也要能理解，而不是硬套语法。)
4. 名词与形容语的词序原则。
4.1 一般原则。——形容词紧接在名词的前面：例如——
“bright prospects.”(辉煌的前程)
4.2 例外情况。
4.2.1 一个形容词又伴随另一个形容词的句子：例如——
“a man just and wise.”(一个正值而明智的人。)
4.2.2形容词的修饰范围通过修饰短语扩大的句子：例如——
(1) “a question too important to be neglected.”(一个太重要而不能忽略的问题。)
(2) “a patriot disinterested in a high degree.”(一个高度无私的爱国者。)
(3) “in other words, the country was to be absolutely governed by a hereditary aristocrary,the most needy,the most haughty,the most quarrelsome in Europe,”(换句话说，这个国家将完全由欧洲最贫穷、最傲慢、最爱争吵的世袭贵族统治)
4.2.2.1 因此，“averse”，“afraid”，“conformable”，等等，要求使用扩大修饰范围以使得修饰意义完整的形容词，总是接在它们所修饰的名词后面。
4.2.2.2 在诗歌中，形容词通常置于最后：例如——
“the garden fair, my own mother dear.”(花园集市，我亲爱的亲妈妈。)
4.2.2.3 某些源于法语的标题，形容词位置采用与一般原则相反的次序：例如——
“Prince Regent，” “Heir Apparent，” “Poet Laureate,” 等等。
4.2.2.4不恰当次序举例。
名词及其修饰附加成分的位置大致就是尽可能的靠在一起，按照这样的准则，下面的句子中的词序就很糟糕：
(1) “the death is announced of Mr. Henry Archer，Inventor.” 等等。
(2) “the country beyond which the arts cannot be traced of civil society or domestic life.”
(3) “the ignorance of the age in mechanical arts rendered the progress very slow of this new invention.”
4.2.2.5避免将形容词扩大到句子的其它位置。
当形容词扩大成分很长的时候，我们应当避免将形容词扩大到句子的其它位置。在下面的段落中，其此修饰成分在名词之前，另一些又在名词之后：——
“Born to inherit most illustrious monarchy in the world，and early united to the object of her choice，the amiable PRINCESS，happy in herself，and joyful in her future prospects，little anticipated the fate that was soon to overtake her. ”
4.2.2.6 形容词护大范围在动词之后重新开始。
有时候，形容词的扩大范围在动词之后重新开始，例如——
“the spirit of Francis Bacon was abroad；a spirit admirably compounded of audacity and sobriety：ye shall die，all of you.”
4.2.2.7 我们总是将名词性实词之前的词当成修饰它的词；因此，有时候，名词和名词短语可以当成形容词使用，例如——“a gold ring;”“a carriage gentleman;” “the house-to-house visitation.” 严格地考虑，高度浓缩或省略的表达句，可以通过它们的同义句来解释，例如——“a ring made of gold；” “a gentleman that rides in a carriage.”“visitation from house-to-house.”
4.2.2.8 关于“the three first”和“the first three”现象的争议。
“the three first”正确，还是“the first three”正确？关于这两个表达句，那一个才是正确用法，有非常多的争议。似乎很难区分两者的对错。当我们说，“the three first”，是问，“三个量怎么才能居第一”；当我们说，“the first three”，我们似乎就是隐含，后面应该还有“a second three”，“a third three”，等等。最通用的是“first three”这种格式；例如——“the first six books of Euclid；” “the first ten men you meet；” “the first forty years of the century.” 但是，偶尔也有优秀的作家认为别的格式更可取；例如——
“the three first gospels；”
“the two eldest of the family；”
“the six nearest your hand；”
“the fathers of five first centuries”——Milton.
“I have not numbered the lines except of the four first books.”——Cowper
我们可以根据这样的原则来设想区别的依据：假如有很多人正在等待进入一个公共剧场观看一场大型演出，导演希望按进入顺序按排坐位，现在，假如我们假设，已经事先安排好了，一次进三个，那么，唯一问题就是“哪三个？”，问题的答案就是“three first”(最前面的三个，可能是并排三列)。如果理解为，他们以他们所站的位置为顺序进入，问题就是，“一次进多少个人？”问题就是条案就是“first three”(排顺序排的前面三位，可能按顺序排列成一列)。对于the three first”和“the first three”，需要特别强调的是第二个位置的单词。这个短语“the first six books of Euclid；”表明，在平面几何学里(欧几里德几何)，这几本书的顺序是固定的，这是显而易见的，唯一需要确认的问题是，规定了几本书：the first two (前面两本)，the first four (前面四本)，the first six (前面六本)。 在谈及“three first gospels；”时，可以推测，组成“gospel”的成分分成两组(如果分割得更多数量会更多)；第一组包括三个元素，第二组包括一个元素。那么，问题就变成了，推测一下——这三个在那里？另外一个又在那里？回答是，“the three first”，“the one last”；或者可能是，“the two first”，“the two last”。假如，例如在“Euclid”(欧几里德几何)中，以固定的连贯顺序研究几何定理是很有必要，那么问题又来了，第一部分分成多少成分？我们可能会说，“the first two”，“the first three”，就像很多人所说的那样。
5. 冠词的放置位置。
5.1 一般原则。——当两个或多个名词都表示同一个对象的时候，冠词仅放在第一个名词之前：例如——
“a (或the) secretary and treasurer.”(秘书兼财务管理)，同一个人兼两种职务。
当两个或多个名词分别表示不同的对象的时候，每一个名词之前都需要重复使用冠词，例如——
“the secretary and the treasurer.”(秘书和财务管理)
违背这个规则的情况时有发生，例如——
“the old and new method.”是错的，但是我们可以改正为，“the old and new methods.”“the Old and New Testaments.”
5.2 正确用法示例。
(1) and He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead.
(2) by their tumultuous election，a Syrian，or an Arab was exalted to the throne of Rome，and was invested with despotic power over the conquests，and over the country of the Scipios.
(3) he had compassion on the poor and needy.
(4) a cool head，an unfeeling heart，and a cowardly disposition，prompted him，at the age of nineteen，to assume the mask of hypocrisy，which he never after laid aside.
(5) He made a better soldier than a poet. 指他当士兵比当诗人更合适。
5.3 错误用法示例。
(1) when therefore the chief priests and (the) officers saw him.
(2) some of the most sacred festivals in the Roman ritual were destined to indulge the pious remembrance of the dead and living.
5.4 在多个名词中重复使用冠词这种原则，也适用于其它类词汇，例如，前置词，连词等：例如——
(1) eternity invests every state，whether of bliss，or of suffering，with an importance entirely its own.
(2) I speak as a father and as a friend.
6. 代词与先行词的词序原则。——每一个代词都应当有一个单独的先行词。当一个从句中有两个名词的时候，每一个都具备作为先行词的能力，决定因素是邻近性和重要性。
6.1 邻近性原则：例如——
(1) “Solomon，the son of David,who slew Goliath.” 这儿的关系代词“who”指紧接在它前面的词——“David”。
(2) “John give Jims the book：he has very much in want of it.”，这儿的关系代词“it”，指最后提到的名词“book”。
6.2 重要性原则：例如——
(1) “Solomon，the son of David, who built the temple.” 可以判定为“Solomon”是主语，而“the son of David”仅仅是同位语，或者解释为从句，不应当与“Solomon”的关系代词扯在一起。事实上，“Solomon-the-son-of-David”就好像是一个复合词的名词。
(2) “He hath made him to be sin for us，who knew no sin.”应当按重要性原则解释；不然，“who”可能理解为应用于“he”或“us”。
6.3 邻近原则应当是优先选项。
下面的句子是代词混淆的例子(圆括号中为应该加的项)：
(1) They were summoned occasionally by their kings，when compelled by (their) want(s) and (by their) fear(s) to have resource to their aid.
(2) Men look with an evil eye upon the good that is in others；and think that their reputation obscures them，and that their commendable qualities do stand in their light；and，therefore，they do what they can to cast a cloud over them，that the bright shining of their virtues my not obscure them.—Tillotson. 此处，句中有两个主语，我们不能从此结构中找出几个代词分别指那一个主语。
(3) All which，with the king’s and queen’s so ample promises to him(the treasurer) so few hours before the conferring the place on another，and the Duke of York’s manner of receiving him (the treasurer) after he (the chancellor) had some share in the affront he (the treasurer) had undergone.—Clarendon.
7. 副词的放置位置。
7.1 副词放在它所修饰的形容词之前；放在不及物动词之后：例如——
“a very good man.” “she dances well.”
7.2当动词具有宾语的时候，副词通常跟在宾语之后：例如——
“He treated them handsomely.”
7.3 当动词由辅助动词和分词组成的时候，副词置于两者之间：例如——
“I have gently hinted my intentions.”
但是，最通用的规则是，副词，副词附加语，或者修饰语放置到它们意图影响的位置。
7.4 需要特别注意的词——“only”。
7.4.1 按照“only”的放置位置的不同，同一个词，在句子中可能因为only的位置不同而表达出不同的含义。
(1) “He only lived for their sakes.” 在这儿，“only”必须看成是修饰“lived for their sakes”，强调的是“lived”，是紧挨着的，比邻的。
(2) “He lived only for their sakes.” “only”现在修饰的是“for their sakes”，句子的含义是，他们居住在那里，是由于“他们自己的原因”，而不是其它的原因。
(3) “He lived for their sakes only.” 当词“only”置于词尾的时候，其功能有点特别。具有看轻或者贬低的意味。
(4) 当使用“alone”代替“only”的时候，表达的是另一种含义：“He lived for their sakes alone.”表示不是其它人的原因。
7.4.2 “only”结构的其它例子——
(1)“When men grow virtuous in their old age，they only make a sacrifice to God of the Devil’s leavings.—Pope. ”
这儿，“only”的放置位置完全正确。
(2)“Think only of the past，and its remembrance gives your pleasure. ”
此句“only”用法不正确，应当改成：
“Think of the past，only as its remembrance.”
(3)“As he did not leave his name，it was only known that a gentleman had called on business.” 此处应改成“it was known only…”。
(4) “I can only refute the accusation by laying before you the whole.” 本句的含义应该是“the only thing I am able to do is to refute；I may not retaliate，or let it drop,I must refute it.”(“我能做的唯一事情就是反驳；我可能不会报复，但也不能放下这件事，我必须反驳。”)
(5) “The negroes are to appear at church only in boots.”即，“这群黑人只穿着鞋，没有穿衣服，出现在教堂。” “The negroes are to appear only at church in boots.”可能是指“除了在教堂，它们不会出现在别的任何地方。不管在不在教堂都穿着鞋。” 恰当的词序应当是，将副词附加语“in boots”与动词“appear”连接起来，使得“only”修饰“at church”而不是修饰别的成分，即改为“The negroes are to appear in boots only at church.”
(5) “Others killed partridges —he only killed time.” (partridges：“鹧鸪；松鸡”)这句可能是指，“他除了消磨时间，并没有干成别的事。” 这是一个通过词的放置位置来“贬低别人”的很好的例句。“Others killed partridges ，he killed time only.” 即，“(讽刺地)没有什么比时间更重要的了。”
7.4.3 “only”置于句子或短语之前，具备转折连词的功能：例如——
I should be ashamed to offer at saying any of those civil things in return to your obliging complements in regard to my translation of Homer，only (but yet still) I have too great a value for you not to be pleased with them.—Pope.
7.4.4 易错的“not—only”用法。
在使用“not—only”时，常常容易犯错，必须注意其完整的表达能力：例如——
“He did not pretend to extirpate French music，but only to cultivate and civilize it.”这儿，“not”明显放错了地方，应该改为“He pretended，或professed，not to extirpate”
7.4.5 更为复杂的“not only，后接“but或but also”结构的用法。
通过以下示例来展示用法：假如像这样说——
(1) “He gave them food and clothing.” 意指他给了他们两样东西(表达很平谈)。
(2) “He gave them both food and clothing.” 即，表示本来是自愿的给某一样东西，但是他两样都给了。
(3) “He gave not only food，but also clothing.”他们可能原本期待他给食物，但是除了食物之外，他还给了他们很奢望得到的衣物。此处的“but”具有引起“惊奇”的效果：“not only”给出了事情发展的正常过程；“but”标识的是一个“额外的惊喜”，或者某种不包括在自然期望中的“事物”(即是很奢望得到的 “某种事物”)。
在下面的句子中，“not only—but”并没有表达出作者的意图：
“We are monished here of charity，and taught that God is not only a private Father，but a common Father to the whole world.”此处，其含义是“God不是一个自私的父亲”，语句假设“他是一个自私的父亲”，应当将“only”略去。
下面这个句子摘自Addison的文章——
“By greatness I do not only mean the bulk of any single object，but the largeness of the whole view.”
这个句子犯了同样的错误，“not”也放错了地方，应当改为——
“By greatness I mean not the bulk of any single object，but the largeness of the whole view.”
简单说，改为这样——
“By greatness I mean largeness，not only in any single object，but in a whole view.”
下面的句子引出了另一个问题——
(1) “not only Lydia，but all were concerned.” 即，可以理解为“Lydia是关注对象，但是并非所有的都受到关注(包括Lydia)”。有必要这样说，“not only Lydia，but all the rest of the family were concerned.”或者说，“not Lydia alone，but all were concerned.”，但是这样说，“not only England，but also France and Austria protested.”，是正确的用法。
句子“not only England，but all Europe was alarmed”犯了和上面一样的错，应该改成，“not England alone，but all Europe.” 或者 “not only England，but also the rest of Europe.”
即“not only”和“but also”两者后面的内容应当相互独立，互不包括对方。如果要包括，就要使用“not alone，but”结构。
(注：Paul对Agrippa的呼吁的翻译并不严格符合英语习语用法。“I would to God that not only thou , but also all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am , except these bonds.” 在这儿，他愿Agrippa和听见他的人都像他自己，Agrippa只是听见他的人之一，应该排除。他们不可能几乎同时存，下面的渲染效果可以避免这种缺陷：“I would to God that not thou alone, but all that bear me this day, were not almost merely,but altogether such as I am , except these bonds.”
“I say not unto thee，Until seven times，but until seventy times seven.”此处，“only”明显放错了地方，应当是，“I say unto thee，not until seven times，only but until seventy times seven”。)
(2) “It is not only hard to distinguish between too little and too much reform，but between the good and evil intentions of different reformers.”
在这儿，我们指的是“not only hard，but impossible.”应当改为，“It is hard to distinguish not only between too little and too much reform，but between the good and (the) evil intentions of different reformers.”
7.4.6 不完整否定句格式中“not”位置的误放。例如——
(1) “John and James were not there.” 意指John和James都不在公司里。没有排除掉他们中任何一个人，否定应该像这样前置，“neither John nor James was there.”
(2) “Our company was not present”(作为一个公司，但是我们中一些人可能出席了)；应当改为“no member of our company was present.”
7.4.7 使用“at least”的注意事项及其在句中的词序。例如——
(1) “The Romans understood liberty，at least，as well as we.”这一句必须解释为“The Romans understood liberty as well as we understood liberty.” 其本意是“that whatever things the Romans failed to understand they understood liberty.”为了表达这种含义，我们可以这样旋转词序：——“The Romans understood at least liberty，as well as we do；” “liberty，at least，the Romans understood as well as we do.”
(2) 下面的句子，各表示不同的含义：
“A tear，at least，is due to the unhappy.”
“At least a tear is a due to the unhappy.”
“A tear is due at least to the unhappy.”
“A tear is a due to the unhappy at least.”
(3) 分析下面句子：
“This can not，often at least，be done.”(“It often happens that this can not be done.”)
“This can not be done often，at least.”(“It does not happen that this can be done.”)
和以面相似的还有下列句子：
“man is always capable of laughing.”
“man is capable of laughing always.”
7.5 副词放错位置的场景，通常是副词附加语。将每个修饰与被修饰的从句移到相邻的位置的必要前提是每个单独的词首先按正确的位置放置。下面是几个错误的放置从句和附加成分的例子——
(1) “All these circumstances brought close to us a state of things which we never thought to have witnessed (to witness) in peaceful England. In the sister island，indeed，we had read of such horrors，but now they were brought home to our very household hearths.”—Swift.
应当改成“We had read,indeed,of such horrors occurring in the sister island.” 等等。
(2) “The savage people in many places of America，except the government of small families，have no government at all，and live at this day in that savage manner as I said before. ”—Hobbes.
第二个和第三个从句应当调换位置。
(3) “Some dozen years afterwards，I had an editorial successor (in the Examiner)，Mr. Fonblanque，who had all the wit for which I toiled，without making any pretensions to it.”—Leigh Hunt.
句中，结束从句，假如我们通过它的位置来判断，应当是修饰I，但是它现在的意思就是修饰who(Mr. Fonblanque)，应当像这样才更明确：“without his making any pretensions to it.”。
(4) “I shall have a comedy for you，in a season or two at farthest，that I believe will be worth your acceptance.”—Goldsmith.
为了使关系词与其先行词“comedy”连接起来，第二个从句放在第一位。
8.前置词(介词)的放置位置。——前置词应当放置到尽量靠近其支配词。
从这一点上来讲，下面的句子有缺陷：——
“appears Lausanne—with at it’s foot the little village of Ouchy.”
但是，需要注意的是，英语中，通过将前置词移到远离其所支配的词而形成的某种倒装是允许的。主要情况是当前置词所支配的词是关系词或疑问词时的情况。也有别的情况，例如下面的例子：——
“now Sir Francis，though he was for a long time our hero，we never exchanged a word with.”
9. 省略现象(ellipsis)。
文法学家们认为句子句法的某些情况，除了利用三大流程，即，“一致(concord)，支配(government)，以及词序(order or word)”加以解释之外，还可以使用“省略现象”加以解释，“省略”可以排在作文流程的第四位。有非常多省略的例子。例如(圆括号中为省略部分)——
(1) I sent to the bookseller’s (shop).
(2) whose is the image and superscription? that (point) is the point.
(3) the greatest man (of the men) on earth.
(4) they love each (loves the ) other.
(5) come (you).
(6) how shall I course (him) whom God hath not cursed?
(7) who’s that knocks?
(8) An honest man,close buttoned to the chin，
Broad cloth without，and a warm heart within.
此处，有分词省略。
(9) Can you sing? I will try to (sing).
(10) (I) thank you.
(11) nothing (is) so good，but it may be abused.
(12) they applied to the Duke，of all men.
10. 赘语现象(pleonasm)或称冗言法。
与省略相对的是赘语，或称多余词汇，有时候，为了达到修辞的效果，允许使用。例如——
(1) for the deck，it was their field of fame.
(2) my banks，they are furnished with bees.
(3) the night，it was gloomy，the wind it was high.
11. 插入语现象(parenthesis)。
如果我们存细研究偶尔的和特殊的结构，我们会注意到句子中的插入语，或者句子中的不连贯表达：例如——
“our ideas are movements of the nerves of sense，as of the optic nerves，in recollecting visible ideas，suppose of a triangular piece of ivory.”
来源：<<A Higher English Grammar>>—Alexander Bain，1877年版。
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