说明
In Louisiana, the term “Greole” is often used to distinguish the descendants of the original French A B C
settlers from the Cajuns. (TOEFL)
usefully
原书 PDF 第 1631 页
usefully
In Louisiana, the term “Greole” is often used to distinguish the descendants of the original French A B C
usefully
问
Although historically, most of the modals can be paired into past and nonpast forms (can/could, may/might, will/would, shall/should), the ‘past tense’ forms are only in some respects usefully classified as such from the point of view of meaning. (CGEL, p. 220)
句中的 usefully 是作 are classified 的状语吗？是否可译为“……只在某些方面可进行这种有用的分类”？
答
这种用法的 usefully 并不是作谓语的状语,而是作全句的状语,尽管它位于句中。关于此种用法的 usefully 的本质,见 delightfully, wisely。下面提出我们的译文供参考。
[试译]尽管从历史上看,大部分情态动词都有与现在时形式配对的过去时形式(can/could, may/might, will/would, shall/should),但是,“过去时”形式,从意义的观点来看,只是在某些方面作这种分类才是有用的。