问英语
原书主词条 · 3 个连续词条

very/much

原书 PDF 第 1635—1637 页

very/much1

问

（a）She works much hard.

(b) That was a very easier job.

我能看出上面的句子有毛病,但我不能从语法规律上加以分析。

答

very 和 much 在作形容词或副词的修饰语时有一个很重要的区别: very 只能用于修饰形容词或副词的原级, 而不能用于修饰非形容词用法的分词; 而 much 则可用来修饰形容词的比较级和最高级以及分词,而不能用来修饰形容词或副词的原级(偶尔可与少数几个形容词原级连用):

  1. Vesta was very ill. (Dreiser) 维斯塔病得很重。

  2. The job was very easy. (CGEL) 这项工作很容易。

  3. I was much annoyed. (OSD) 我很恼火。

  4. In person, Rita Skeeter is much warmer and softer than her famously ferocious quill-portraits might suggest. (J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) 现实中，丽塔·斯基特比她远近闻名的羽毛笔下尖锐笔锋所描述的形象所表现出来的要热心温柔得多。（《哈利·波特与死亡圣徒》）

  5. I wasn't much surprised. 我没有太感惊讶。

  6. Byron is much admired in Greece. (LEG) 拜伦在希腊很受敬仰。

  7. This is much the best. (Palmer) 这是最最好的。

  8. We were very much surprised when the snake charmer suddenly began to play jazz tunes and popular modern songs. (New Concept English, Book 2, L.42) 当玩蛇者突然改吹爵士音乐和现代流行歌曲时我们感到十分惊奇。

应当注意,当 v-ed 用作形容词的时候,或者说 v-ed 表示状态或性质的时候,一般是用来修饰的:

  1. We are all very excited and are looking forward to the Olympic Games because they have never been held before in this country. (New Concept English, Book 2, L. 37) 我们都十分兴奋，盼望着奥运会，因为奥运会还从来没有在我国举行过。

  2. I suddenly felt very worried, but could not say anything. (New Concept English, Book 2, L.48) 我突然感到非常着急，但却什么也说不出来。

  3. You make me very ashamed in front of him. 你会使我在他面前感到很羞愧的。

  4. Mrs Ramsay got very worried. (New Concept English, Book 3, L. 19) 拉姆齐太太非常担心。

练习

  1. "Was she scared at the strange noise?" "Not exactly. But she wore a ____ surprised expression."

    1. A

      very

    2. B

      much

    3. C

      very much

    4. D

      very deep(TOEFL)

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very/much2

问

《高分托福语法》(世界图书出版公司,1995,p.241)认为 very 可以修饰现在分词,并举下例为证: This is a very interesting book.

请问 very 可以修饰现在分词吗?

答

让我们先来考察权威语言学家 R. Quirk 等人的论述：

“对于-ing 分词来说,肯定不能和 very 连用:

× His views were very alarming his audience.

对于-ed 和-ing 分词来说,如果它们被前置的强化语所修饰,那就清楚地表明它们已取得了形容词的地位:

His views were very alarming." (CGEL)

至于《高分托福语法》所举例子中的 interesting 是个明显的形容词(见《新英汉词典》)。CGEL(§ 17.98)说它已经完全形容词化。He is interesting.(他很有趣)。类似的形容词还有 frightening, surprising, exciting, tempting, alarming, insulting。这些形容词有时称作分词型形容词(participle adjectives)。请阅读下面的实例：

  1. When the hotel was reached her condition was still more alarming. (Mis) 当到达旅馆的时候,她的状况更加令人不安。

  2. The idea was so exciting. (Mansfield) 这个主意非常令人兴奋。

  3. You are very frightening. (CGEL) 你很令人害怕。

  4. Doubtless he had not meant to offend me, but the tone of his remarks was certainly insulting. 毫无疑问，他并不是有意冒犯我，但是说话的语调肯定是很侮辱人的。

  5. Those chocolates are very tempting. (Neal) 这些巧克力是很诱人的。

  6. What you've just told me is very surprising. (Maugham) 你告诉我的事非常令人惊讶。

  7. She has a very interesting mind. (CGEL) 她的想法很有意思。

She is very calculating. (形容词) 她很会为自己打算。

  1. {She is calculating our salaries. (现在分词)(CGEL)\left\{\text{She is calculating our salaries. (现在分词)(CGEL)}\right. 她正在计算我们的工资。

关于 much 的用法和例句, 见上条。

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very/much3

问

《最新高级英汉词典》(商务印书馆,1995,p.1199)说:“修饰动词或被动语态中的过去分词时必须用 much。”但是下列句子里被动语态的过去分词却用 very 修饰,这是怎么回事呢?

(a) I was very touched by his sincerity.

(b) We were very pleased by his behaviour.

答

这是一个很复杂的问题。语言学家们已经注意到了这种语言现象，但尚未作出令人满意的解释。他们只是说：“可用 very 修饰的 -ed 分词，当与不指人的半施事 by-phrase 连用时，可保留 very。”并说：“-ed 分词与 -ing 分词相比似乎有不同的用法。-ed 分词与指人的施事 by-phrase 连用时候使用 very 越来越为人们所接受：

The man was very offended by the policeman." (CGEL) 那男人被警察弄得很生气。请再考察下面的实例：

  1. I'm very disturbed by your attitude. 你的态度把我搞得很不安。

  2. We were all very shocked by the news about Tony. (Swan) 关于托尼的消息使我们大家都感到很震惊。

  3. I was very amused by Miranda's attitude. 米兰达的态度使我感到很好笑。

问

AsA\frac{\mathrm{As}}{\mathrm{A}} the nation's first president, George Washington still enjoys a very unparalleled place BC\frac{\mathrm{B}}{\mathrm{C}}

in American history. (TOEFL, 美国考题) D

上面的试题要求将 very(C) 改为 much。

《高分托福文法》(世界图书出版公司,1995,p.241)在解答此题时说:“改为 much unparalleled,因为 very 不能修饰一般的过去分词。”但是,我们认为这种解释至少有两个错误。第一,上题中的 unparalleled 并不是过去分词;第二,笼统地说 very 不能修饰过去分词也是不准确的。请看下面的实例:

  1. The man was very offended. (CGEL) 那男人很生气。

  2. I was very touched... (Clark) 我被深深地打动了。

  3. We are all very excited... (NCE 2, L. 37) 我们大家都很激动……

答

首先应当明确的是,有许多形容词是以-ed 结尾的,有时被称作分词型形容词。例如,ashamed, amazed, bored, delighted, frightened, relieved, excited, shocked, unexpected, talented, disturbed, pleased 等等。这样的过去分词是可以用 very 来修饰的。

上题中的 unparalleled 并不是过去分词,而是形容词(见《远东英汉大辞典》、《英汉大词典》、WNCD)。读到这里你一定会问:既然 unparalleled 是形容词,那它为什么不能用 very 来修饰呢?

在这里我们必须摆脱“形容词由 very 来修饰，分词由 much 来修饰”这种片面知识的束缚，而对问题作较深入的研究。原来，并不是英语中所有的形容词都能由 very 来修饰，而只有可分等级的形容词（它们通过具有比较级和最高级形式这一特征体现出来）才可由 very 来修饰。举例来说，下列形容词就不能由 very 来修饰：absolute, asleep, awake, complete, entire,perfect, infinite, total, unique, unwritten, unbroken。同样，unparalleled(无双的，独一无二的，独特的，无与伦比的)也是个不分等级的形容词，因此，它也不能接受 very 的修饰。

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