关系副词,顾名思义,是联系先行词和定语从句的词,属于副词。定语从句中的关系副词有三个:when, where和why,它们在定语从句中分别作时间、地点和原因状语。其句法结构如下:
表时间的名词 + when + 定语从句
when指时间,在定语从句中作时间状语。
例句:I still remember the day when I first came to Beijing. I’ll never forget the day when I joined the army. 表地点的名词 + where + 定语从句
where指地点,在定语从句中作地点状语。
例句:The factory where his father works is in the west of the city. This is the house where I lived two years ago.
表原因的名词reason + why + 定语从句(why只用于reason之后的限制性定语从句中,在定语从句中作原因状语。)
例句:That is the reason why I did the job.(在现代英语中why可以省略) 上句也可以这样表示:
That is the reason I did the job.
又如: This was the reason (why )we raised the temperature. 关系副词在定语从句中的用法看似简单,以下注意点不可忽视:
1)“when”、“where”和“why”的运用取就于表时间的名词、表地点的名词和表原因的名词reason在定语从句中所作的成分,比较下面的几组句子: *I will never forget the day when I first met you on the seashore.
*I will never forget the days which/that we spent together in Xueyao Middle School.
**This is the hospital where my mother works.
**This is the hospital which/that we visited the day before yesterday. ***The reason why he did not go to school is that he was ill. ***This is the reason which/that he gave his boss in the office .
2) “when”、“where”和“why”都可以替换成“介词 + which”,介词的选用取就于先行词和定语从句中的动词。例如:
Do you still remember the day on which we first met in Nantong?(on which=when)
This is the room in which we lived last year.(in which=where)
Do you know the reason for which he refused to go to Mary’s birthday party. (for which=why)
有时定语从句中介词短语和动词有意义紧密的修饰关系,尤其在非限制性定语从句中,常使用“介词 + which”结构,而不使用关系副词。例如:
My mother works in a factory, in front of which there is a small river.
At night the soldiers got to a small hill, at the foot of which stood a farmhouse.
3) 关系副词“when”、“where”既可引导限制性定语从句,也可引导非限制性定语从句。
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例如:I will always remember the day when I first visited the Great Wall. He came to Shanghai in 1980, when he was only 12. I don’t know the exact spot where they will meet.
Mr Wang will fly to Beijing, where he will stay for three months.
有时关系副词“when”、“where”引导的限制性定语从句和先行词有间隔的现象,是为了平衡句子的语法需要。
Do you remember one afternoon ten years ago when I came to your house and borrowed a diamond necklace?
The days are gone forever when the Chinese people used “foreign oil.”. 4) “that”可活用为关系副词,相当于“when, where、why”和“介词 + which”结构,尤其在“the time when”等结构中的“when”常被“that”代替,而且“that”往往省略。 I may leave here any time I want to.
During the time I was there I visited him twice.
This is my second time I have come to your country. 5) “which”有时可用作关系形容词,这是“which”在非限制性定语从句中的特殊使用,如:
The doctor advised him to give up smoking, which advice he did not follow.