录自《自学参考系列手册·句法手册》第三章 英语各种功能句（简写版）

第三节  特定形式否定句

编者  川竹 樑翁

全部否定与部分否定㈡

（续前：3. 表示部分否定的常用词语）

4. 由半否定词构成的不完全否定句

英语中有的(副)词只表示近乎否定的含义，常用者如hardly (几乎不)、scarcely (几乎不)、rarely (很少地)、barely (仅仅／几乎不能)、seldom (很少／不常)、little (少许)、few (几乎没有)等，语言学家对含有这类性质的否定也称为不完全否定(incomplete negation)或准否定(quasi-negation)，也有人称之为半否定(semi-negation)。半否定属部分否定的又一种构成方式。

上列半否定词用英文释义便是：hardly和scarcely＝almost not (no)；rarely和seldom＝not often；little=not much；few＝not many；barely=only just.

 

⑴半否定词构成的否定句例

英语句子的自然语序是主语在前，谓语动词在后；但倒装语序是主、谓语顺序颠倒，其中谓语动词全部移到主语前面的叫完全倒装(Full inversion)，谓语动词的一部分放到主语前面的叫部分倒装(partial inversion)。

①含半否定词的顺装句——主语在前，谓语在后。

例：I could hardly／scarcely understand him．我几乎听不懂他的话。

I scarcely／hardly know what to do．我简直不知道该做什么。

Henry and Susan seldom speak to each other. 亨利和苏珊两人难得交谈。

Peter is rarely／seldom late. 彼得不常迟到。／彼得很少迟到。

This kind of plant rarely blossoms.这种植物难得开(一次)花。

His room was furnished barely. 他的房间里几乎没什么家具。

We could barely see the road in the fog. 我们在雾中几乎不能看清路。

He knows little French. 他几乎不懂法语。【比较：He knows a little French．他懂一点法语。】

He cares very little for fame and gain. 他对名利很淡薄。

He has few friends．他没有什么朋友。【比较：He has a few friends．他有几个朋友。】

Very few house survived the earthquake. 没有几间房子幸免于地震。

 

②含半否定词的倒装句——谓语部分的助动词移到主语前面，谓语部分的主要动词仍在主语后面。

上面所列为含半否定词的句子属于自然语序顺装句，下面就说半否定词引起的倒装句——半否定词可以引起半倒装，不能引起全倒装。它引起倒装的公式是：

半否定词(组) +助动词／情态动词／系动词+主语+行为动词／表语+其它成分。

例：Scarcely did l know your wife．我简直不认识你的妻子。

Rarely do we see them nowadays. 近来我们很少看见他们。

Hardly can you imagine how enthusiastic these young teachers are．

你简直想象不到这些青年教师的热情有多高。

 

⑵半否定词在顺装句中的位置——在英语基本句型中，半否定词的正常位置非常灵活。

①置于主语前

例：Few words are best. 少说为妙。／寡言最佳。

There is little water in the thermos. 暖水瓶没多少水了。

There was hardly any free time. 简直没有什麽空闲时间。

There is scarcely enough food. 几乎没有足够的食物。

There was barely a trace of salt in the soup. 汤里简直一点盐也没有放。

 

②置于谓语动词之前

例：That man barely escaped. 那人好不容易才逃了出来。

He rarely washes, and he smells. 他很少洗澡，所以身体发出臭味。

He hardly ever sees his teacher nowadays．近来他很少见到他的老师。

 

③置于宾语前

例：I saw scarcely anybody in the street．我在大街上几乎没有见到任何人。

They had barely time to catch the plane. 他们差点没来得及赶上飞机。

We saw a rarely beautiful mountain scene. 我们看到了极其秀丽的山景。

 

④置于系词之后

例：Peter is rarely / seldom late. 彼得不常迟到。/ 彼得很少迟到。

His argument was barely intelligible.他的论点不易理解。

What he said was scarcely true．他所说的话几乎不是真话。

 

⑤置于助动词之后

例：He was hardly seen in the dark. 在黑暗中简直看不见他。

He had scarcely heard the news before he flared up．他一听到这消息就大发脾气。

Big Ben has rarely gone wrong.“大本钟”很少出差错。【Big Ben英国伦敦议会大厦顶的大钟】

 

⑥置于情态动词之后

例：I can barely see it.我几乎看不见。

I could scarcely recognize him. 我简直认不出他来了。

I need hardly say that l am innocent．我无需说我是无罪的。

从以上例句可以看出：半否定词在句中一般位于主语、谓语主动词、宾语之前；位于助动词、系动词、情态动词之后。这是半否定词在句中的正常词序。

 

⑶半否定词引起句子的“越位”倒装

①半否定词“不越位”不能引起倒装——所谓“越位”是指一个词离开了它原来应该置放的位置。

例：Few people know it. 几乎没有什么人知道这一点。

Little work was done yesterday．昨天没做什么工作。

Hardly anybody believes what he says．几乎谁也不相信他说的话。

上例中的半否定词few、little(极少)、hardly，虽然位于句首，并没有引起倒装——这是因为它们原来的位置就应该在主语之前，并没有“越位”。

 

②理解半否定词位于句首可以引起倒装，有三点需要注意：①半否定词本不该在主语的前面，而是“越位”提前到句首，离开了它原来的位置；②在有行为动词的句中，通常在主语前加助动词did或do，does；③在完成时句子中，助动词had，have或has提前到句首，其它词序不变。请注意观察比较下列例句中的语序。

例： I hardly thought it possible．

Hardly did I think it possible．我几乎认为那是不可能的。

He was scarcely pleased．

Scarcely was he pleased．他几乎没有高兴过。

I have seldom met him in the school．

Seldom have l met him in the school．我很少在学校里碰见他。

My brother made few mistakes in his work．

Few mistakes did my brother make in his work．我兄弟很少在工作中出错。

 

⑷hardly…when和scarcely…when／before与半倒装

①从结构上看，hardly或scarcely (一…／刚…) 所引导的句子为主句，when“就…”所引导的句子为从句。本句结构与as soon as“刚…就…”所表达意思相同，但结构正好相反。

例：We had scarcely got home before it began to rain. 我们一到家，天就开始下雨了。

He had scarcely seen his daughter when he was overjoyed．他一看到他女儿就格外高兴。

He had scarcely seen his daughter…＝As soon as he saw his daughter…

此后两句都译成“他一见到他女儿”，但前一句为主句，后句为从句。

 

②若hardly或scarcely位于句首，词序半倒装。从句用过去时，主句用过去完成时。

例：Scarcely had he enter the room before she burst into tear. 她一进入房间就泪如雨下。

Scarcely had she heard the sad story when she burst out crying. 她一听到这悲伤的消息，就失声痛哭。

Hardly had he finished his speech when someone rose to refute his points。他刚一报告完，就有人起来反驳他的论点。

后面两句试用as soon as句式来替代：

As soon as he finished his speech, someone rose to refute his points．

As soon as she heard the sad story, she burst out crying

本句式主句和从句的时态通常一致。注意as soon as从句改为顺装语序；而且，as soon as所引导的从句要用一般时态表将来，因为它是时间状语从句。

 

③不能用than代替句中的when或before，如果用than则必须改用no sooner…than结构，其意思相同。

例：Hardly had he arrived when she started complaining. 他刚一到, 她就开始抱怨起来。

=No sooner had he arrived than she started complaining.

Scarcely had she gone out when it began to rain．她刚出门，天就下雨了。

=No sooner had she gone out than it began to rain．

 

⑸关于半否定词使用的几点说明

①hardly、scarcely有时也可表完全否定

副词hardly、scarcely除当“almost not”(几乎不)解外，还可表达“not at all”(一点也不／简直不)之类全否定意思。

例：I scarcely think so. 我可(完全)不这么想。

This can scarcely be true. 事实决不会是真的。

I can hardly ask him directly for more money. 我绝不能直接向他多要钱。

Mum and Dad hardly write their names．妈妈爸爸连他们的名字也不会写。

这样用hardly与scarcely就不是半否定，而是加强否定了。而且即使hardly用于不完全否定，其实际意义有时跟完全否定也没多大差别，只是语气较为缓和，留有余地，使听者较容易接受而已。这时既可译成完全否定，也可译成不完全否定，视实际情况而定。

例：I can hardly ask him directly for more money. 我绝不能直接向他多要钱。【全否定】

This is hardly the time to discuss such matters. 在现在讨论这事根本不合适。

It was so dark that I could hardly see. 天那么黑，我简直看不见了。

I’m sorry that I can hardly understand you．对不起，你的话我不大懂。【译成不完全否定，好让人听起来不觉难堪。】

A few stars are known which are hardly bigger than the earth. 已知的星球，大小和地球相仿佛的寥寥无几。

【此句译成完全否定不仅符合句意，而且比译成不完全否定顺畅得多。】

 

②不完全否定跟完全否定一样，常跟any／ever／a／at all等表示不定的或强调的词或短语连用。半否定词是也包括scarcely ever ＝ hardly ever (几乎从不)、hardly any ＝ scarcely any (几乎没有)、almost never (几乎从来不)等词组，但有时表示的则是全否定。

例：He had hardly any schooling. 他几乎没有上过学。【半否定】

He hardly ever eats meat. 他从来不吃肉。【全否定】

Peter is hardly ever late. 玛丽几乎从不迟到。

I hardly ever see you now. Where have you been? 现在几乎老见不到你，你到哪里去了?

I scarcely slept a wink last night．昨晚我几乎连眼也没有闭过。

 

③当little作副词用而又置于句首时，主谓语序不倒装的现象也是有的。

例：Little he eats and long will wake．他吃得不多，因而眼瞪瞪的时间也就长。

但：Little need l dwell upon the joy of that reunion．那次团圆的喜悦我就不必说了。【倒装】

 

④当表示不完全否定的词当名词或形容词用而置于句首时，主谓词序也是无法颠倒的。

例：In some places, little is done to make the smoke clean before it goes into the air。

有些地方，几乎没有采取什么措施把烟尘净化就把它放到空气里去。

Few people live there．住在那里的人不多。

综上所述，我们清楚地看到半否定跟全否定只是否定的程度不同而已，主要的语法特征都相同。明白了这一点，我们在对不完全否定句进行句型变换时也就可放心大胆地当完全否定句处理了。