Hi, guys! Dan from BBC Learning English here with this week's learner question. Find out what it is after this.
嗨,大家!我是 BBC 學英文的 Dan,帶來本週的學員問題。在這之後來看看是怎樣的問題吧。
Learners' Questions
《學員來發問》
Okay. This week's learner question comes from...Tutul from Bangladesh, who writes, "I am confused as to when I can use participles as adjectives. For example, I can say 'I saw a barking dog,' but I can't say 'I saw a barked dog.' Why not?" Good question, Tutul. Here comes your answer.
好。這禮拜的學員問題來自...孟加拉的 Tutul,他寫道:「我搞不清楚什麼時候可以把分詞當形容詞使用。例如,我可以說 I saw a barking dog(我看到一隻在吠的狗),但我卻不能說 I saw a barked dog(我看到一隻被吠的狗)。為什麼不行呢?」真是個好問題,Tutul。馬上為你解答。
So, there are not many verb participles that can be used as adjectives in both "-ed" and "-ing" forms. If you transform the participle adjective into a relative clause, you can kind of understand. If it doesn't make sense as a relative clause, it doesn't make sense as a participle adjective. For example, "The barking dogs kept me awake all night." or "The dogs that were barking kept me awake all night." "The barked dogs kept me awake all night." or "The dogs that had been barked kept me awake all night." Hmm...
那麼,-ed 形態和 -ing 形態都能作形容詞使用的分詞並不多。如果你將分詞形容詞變成關係子句的話,你就可以大概看出來。如果關係子句不合邏輯的話,那它當分詞形容詞就不合理。舉例來說,The barking dogs kept me awake all night.(一直吠的狗讓我整晚都沒睡)或是 The dogs that were barking kept me awake all night. (一直吠的狗讓我整晚都沒睡)。The barked dogs kept me awake all night.(被吠的狗讓我整晚都沒睡)或是 The dogs that had been barked kept me awake all night.(被吠的狗讓我整晚都沒睡)。嗯...
So, "barking" works in the first pair of examples because "-ing" adjectives have a similar meaning to active verbs. However, "barked" doesn't work in the second pair, because past participles have passive meanings. Now, dogs can be washed, dried, brushed, fed, and walked, but they can't be barked—this is something that they do themselves.
好,第一組例句中的 barking 可以用,因為 -ing 結尾的形容詞意思和主動動詞很像。然而,第二組例句中的 barked 卻不成立,因為過去分詞有被動的意味。現在,小狗可以被洗、被吹乾、被梳毛、被餵食還有被遛,但牠們不會被吠--汪汪叫是牠們主動會做的事。
Let's try a different verb. "To abandon someone" is "to leave them when you should stay with them," and "abandon" is often used in passive structures. For this reason, "abandoned" works as an adjective, but "abandoning" does not.
我們來試別的動詞看看。「拋棄某人」就是「在你應該要待在那人身邊時卻離開他們」,而 abandon(拋棄)這字常用在被動的句構中。因此,abandoned 可以當形容詞,不過 abandoning 不可以。
Compare "The abandoned child cried for days." versus "The abandoning child cried for days." Now, "abandoning" doesn't work here, because children cannot abandon themselves. But unfortunately, some children are "abandoned."
比較 The abandoned child cried for days.(被拋棄的那孩子哭了好幾天)與 The abandoning child cried for days.(拋棄的孩子哭了好幾天)。現在,這裡不能用 abandoning,因為孩子沒辦法拋棄自己。不過很不幸地,有些孩子會「被拋棄」。
Finally, there are a few participle adjectives that can be used in both the "-ing" and the "-ed" form, but sometimes there's a difference between the two, and sometimes not such a big difference.
最後,有一些 -ing 和 -ed 形式都行得通的分詞形容詞,不過有時候兩者間會有差異,有時候則沒有多大差別。
Two examples. First one, "She's suffering from a broken heart." or "The breaking waves crashed against the rocks." There's a difference there. However, "The falling leaves covered the path." versus "The fallen trees blocked the road."—not so much of a difference.
舉兩個例子。第一個,She's suffering from a broken heart.(她正經歷心碎的痛苦)或是 The breaking waves crashed against the rocks.(碎浪打上礁岩)。這之間有差別。然而,The falling leaves covered the path.(掉落的葉子覆滿小徑)與 The fallen trees blocked the road.(倒落的樹木堵住道路)--這就沒多大差別了。
I hope that answers your question, Tutul. Thank you very much for writing to us.
希望那有回答到你的問題,Tutul。非常謝謝你寫信給我們。
If anybody else out there has a question for Learners' Questions, you can email us on learning.english@bbc.co.uk. Please remember to put "Learners' Questions" in the subject box, and your name and where you're writing from. Now, we got a lot of emails, guys, and I'm afraid we can't answer every single question, but we do read them all. And for more information, go to our website: bbclearningenglish.com.
如果還有人有問題要問《學員來發問》的話,你可以寄信到 learning.english@bbc.co.uk 給我們。請記得在主旨打上「學員來發問」,還有你的姓名以及你來自哪裡。那麼大家,我們收到的信件有很多,恐怕我們沒辦法逐一回答,但我們確實每封信都會讀。想了解更多資訊,就到我們的網站:bbclearningenglish.com。
That's it for this week's Learners' Questions. I'll see you next time. Bye.
本週的《學員來發問》就到這邊。我們下回見。掰掰。