第一部分:引言
《现代英语语法》是由李基安先生编写,全国高等教育自学考试指导委员会指定的全国高等教育自学考试教材。
关于这门课程的考试要求,可参见该教程第425所附录的《英语语法自学考试大纲》。大纲是方向、目标,广大考生必须仔细了解。
英语语法是关于英语语言结构的理论知识。通过该课程的学习,学员能够比较系统地认识英语从词,句到语篇的构造,从而提高他们应用英语的规范性。
在学习该教材时,学员普遍存在两种倾向:一是,由于该教材都是用英文编写,里面又涉及很多专业术语,许多学员觉得高深、难懂;二是,有些学员认为,自己从学英语开始就在学习英语语法,没有必要在这门功课上花太多的精力,所有的语法书都大同小异,自己稍做准备就能对付过去。
其实,两种看法都失偏颇。现代语法的发展与传统语法已经存在比较明显的差异,例如:传统语法认为,英语有九种(甚至十六种)时态,该教程则采取的是‘a system of two tenses and two aspects’—-—-—-两时两体体系。另外对phrases, clauses 的概念也有不同的定义。书中提到的一些其他语言现象,如:外位[extraposition], 分隔[discontinuity], 分裂句[cleft sentence]等都是一般语法书所不提及或者阐述不同。该教材也并非高深莫测,毕竟多数语言现象还是我们日常英语学习中所耳濡目染的,只不过我们许多英语学习者没有考究过它们形成的理论根据,来龙去脉而已。
所以,为了使自己的英语更加规范,让自己能用英语更准确、有效地传递信息、表达思想,英语专业的学生还是很有必要把这门课程学好。
现在我们就结合《现代英语语法》教材,近几年英语语法专业考试试题,讲述英语语法考试中考生容易忽略的测试要点或难点。
我们先通过几道语法题来检测你现有的现代语法水平,接着探讨一下该教材的学习方法,最后把教材各章的要点、难点归纳给大家。在整个讲解过程中,我们力争多采用教材里的素材以及往年试题中的一些经典考题,以便学员在学习、归纳语法现象的同时使自己的备考收效最大化。
先测试一下自己的现代语法水平(同时了解一下英语语法考试的题型、结构;每年考试形式基本相同,有些部分稍有调整。为了节省篇幅,这里各部分只选取几个样题)
The Pre-course Quiz
I、单项选择题(本大题共20小题,每题1分,共20分)
Choose the best answer from the choices given:
1. In the end, he __________.
a. got invited b. gets invited c. was invited d. was to be invited
2. Do what I tell you --__________!
a. or else b. or so c. and that d. and do
3. __________ , he managed to remain among the top 5% of his class.
a. To work hard as he did b. Working hard as he did
c. Work hard as he did d. Worked hard as he did
4._____ there be life on Mars? (p171)
a. May b. Can c. Might d. Ought
5.Stay _____ have dinner with us, will you?(p263)
a. to b. or c. and d. here
6.You _____ be shocked at the news.(p168)
a. should well b. must well c. may well d. can well
7. You have to wait a minute, ______?
a. haven't you b. do you
c. don't you d. shouldn't you
8. Staying in hotel cost ________ renting a room in a dormitory for a week.
a. twice as much b. twice as much as
c. as much as twice d. twice than
9. I don't think she meant_________ you. (p206)
a. hurt b. to hurt c. hurting d. be hurt
10. ___ I worked hard at school, I ___ this kind of work now.
a. Had... wouldn't have done b. Had... wouldn't be doing
c. If... wouldn't do d. If... wouldn't be doing
II.多项选择题(本大题共5小题,每题2分,共10分)
Fill in the blanks with one of the items given below:
a, the, any, some, all
1. __________ of us decides what to take into the future and what to leave behind. That's why__________ arrival of the Year 2000 has become such a personal moment.
2. be, is, was, are ,were, will be, shall be, has, have had
a. She is one of these girls who _______ trouble running around.
b. This one of the many houses here which _______ destroyed in the earthquake.
3. seem, seems, me, I, mine
Your politics _____ to be entirely different from _____. (p59)
4. less, less of, than, as, like
Mr. Smith is _____ a politician ______ Mr. Lee. (p237)
III.填空题(本大题共20小题,每题1分,共20分)
Fill in the blank with an appropriate coordinator or subordinator:
1. It was an island __________ name I have forgotten.
2. He carried his luggage all the way home, __________ was actually unnecessary.
3. He soon made it clear __________ he had asked for a meeting.
4. The police arrived, after __________ the situation became calmer.
Fill in the blanks with proper words:
5.I like Australia best _______ all the English-speaking countries.
6.I made a comparison _______ the major English speaking countries.(p251)
IV.改错题(本大题共8小题,每小题1分,共8分)
Correct errors in the following sentences:
1. Francis Bacon wrote that reading made a full man.
2. Go and get some fresh air! You were sitting here all morning.
3.The all of Paris welcomed the general. (p79)
4. I've got five brothers, and every of them is quite different from the others.
5. None of my parents are interested in my idea. (p344)
V.改写句子(本大题共14小题,每题2分,共28分)
Rewrite the following sentences as required:
1. Combining the sentences into one that contains a relative clause:
You sent my son an English-Chinese dictionary. Thank you very much.
2. Combining the sentences into one that contains a relative clause:
Twenty horses were put into the corral. They were to be trained for riding.
3.Combine the sentences into one that contains a relative clause:(p289)
My boss is a very considerate person. His predecessor was not a considerate person at all.
4.Rewrite the following sentence using whatever cohesive device is appropriate:
A: Is John trying to enter Harvard Law School?
B: No, I don't think John is trying to enter Harvard Law School. He hates lawyers.
5. Use discontinuity:
Excessive exposure to violence on TV is more harmful than expected to children.
VI.名词解释(本大题共2小题,每小题2分,共4分)
Define the following terms with examples:
1. Non-finite verbs
2. Determiners
VII.简答题(本大题共5小题,每小题2分,共10分)
1. What are inherent adjectives?
2. Can HOW - exclamations be used to highlight the noun? If not, what can HOW - questions highlight?
Key to the pre-course quiz
I. 单项选择题(每小题1分,共20分)
1、a 2、a 3、b 4、b 5、c 6、c 7、c 8、b 9、b 10、b
II. 多项选择填空题(每小题2分,共10分,)
1. Each, the (共2分,一格1分)
2. have, were(共2分,一格1分)
3. seem, mine(共2分,一格1分)
4. less of, than(共2分,一格1分)
III. 填空题(每题1分,共20分)
1. whose
2. which
3. why
4. which
5. among
6.between
IV. 改错题(每小题1分,共8分)
Correct errors in the following sentences:
1. Francis Bacon wrote that reading makes a full man.
2. Go and get some fresh air! You have been sitting here all morning.
3.The whole of Paris welcomed the general.
4. I've got five brothers, and each of them is quite different from the others.
5. Neither of my parents are interested in my idea.
V. 改写句子(每题2分,共28分)
1. Thank you very much for the English-Chinese dictionary you sent my son.
2. Twenty horses that were to be trained for riding were put into the corral.
3. My boss is a very considerate person, which his predecessor was not at all.
4. No, I don't think so. He hates lawyers.
5. Excessive exposure to violence on TV is more harmful to children than expected.
VI. 名词解释(每题2分,共4分)
1. The non-finite verbs are verbs that are not marked for tense or for subject-verb concord.
2. Determiners refer to words which are used in the pre-modification of a noun phrase and which typically precede any adjectives that pre-modify the head word.
VII. 简答题(每小题2分,共10分)
1. Generally speaking, adjectives denoting inherent qualities characterize the referent of the noun. e.g. A big house refers to a house whose size is big.
2. No, they can't. They can highlight the adjectives, adverb or verb.
第二部分:教材的学习与使用
一. 首先,仔细研读教材后面所附录的《高等教育自学考试英语语法自学考试大纲》,做到学习重点、考试要求了然于心。
二. 由于教材涉及的术语较多,考试时所有的考题均用英文表述,学员必须熟记这些术语。可参照书后《课程内容与考核目标》所列出的主要概念中英文对照。如:词素(morphemes),词缀法(affixation), 修饰性状语(adjunct) ,评注性状语(disjunct)等。
三. 对于每个概念,术语,都要做到能用简单的英语解释,最好能用书中的定义进行解释。语法考试中就有一部分要检查考生对概念的理解及记忆。如:(1)Morpheme(p4): A morpheme is the minimal distinctive grammatical unit, and is the lowest unit in grammatical hierarchy. Morphemes are actually abstract elements of analysis. What occurs is an orthographic form in writing termed “morph” which realizes the morpheme.(词素是语法的最小区别性单位,即最低一级的语法单位.词素的语音或拼写法的体现叫形素.词素是抽象的形式成分,在不同的环境中由若干不同的形素来体现) (2)Mass nouns(p57): Those nouns that can not take plural forms are mass nouns, such as butter, cheese, homework music, etc. (没有复数形式的名词叫物质名词)
四. 在理解的基础上,熟记教材上的例句。从以往的试卷分析来看,很多考题就是教材上的原句或略作变动。例如:在全国2003年4月高等教育自学考试英语语法试题第Ⅱ. 多项选择填空题(本大题共8小题,每小题2分,共16分)中,几乎所有的题目均能从书中找出:
Fill in the blanks with one of the items given below:
21. bank, bunch, congregation, pack, series(P65)
A. a _____ of musicians
B. a___ of lectures
22. board, bunch, choir, packet, party(P66)
A. a ______ of guests
B. a______ of keys
23. is, are, was, were, will be, shall be(P344)
Some money _____ carried to the spot and all the food and everything else _____ ready for the picnic.
24. seem, seems, me, I, mine(P59)
Your politics _____ to be entirely different from _____.
25. less, less of, than, as, like(P237)
Mr. Smith is _____ a politician ______ Mr. Lee.
26. more of, many of, much of, than, as, like(P236)
John is as _____ a fool _____ Bill.
27. be, is, was, are, were, will be, shall be
A. That she is still alive ______ sheer luck.
B. Neither his oral statement nor what he wrote _____ true.
28. have, has, had, will have, shall have(P346)
A. She is the only one of her family who ______ trouble making up the mind.
B. This is the only family in the community who ____ different opinions while making up the mind.