Expanding Core Elements of Complex Sentences with Participle Structures - Insights

–Expanding Core Elements of Complex Sentences with Participle Structures | Image by The Alphabet

在上一篇文章中，我们探讨了英语中如何从简单结构扩展到复杂句子的本质逻辑。特别地，我们重点介绍了两种核心扩展方法：内延和外延扩展。我们还详细讲解了这两种方法中可用的各种语言要素，如形容词、介词短语和从句等。

本文将继续探讨在构建复杂句子时广泛使用的另一种关键语言结构：分词结构。在正式分析其本质之前，让我们先从其基本构造开始，来直观地理解分词结构，请参考以下例句：

The burning logs crackled in the fireplace.
She read the letter written by her grandmother.
Sitting by the window, she watched the rain.
Frightened by the noise, the cat hid under the bed.
Having finally reached a tentative labor agreement with its company’s pilots, the airline’s board of directors must now determine how the airline can both increase profits and compete more effectively for customers than it did in the past.
The delinquency rates on mortgages for office buildings, hotels, shopping malls, and other commercial properties held by the nation’s insurance companies have increased sharply in recent months, leading to predictions that foreclosures on these types of loans could double over the next three years.

从上面的例句中的加粗部分可以看到，我们今天要介绍的复杂句子扩展要素是分词结构。分词结构在英语中主要以两种形式出现：现在分词和过去分词。这些结构通常以现在分词（-ing 形式）或过去分词（-ed 形式或不规则变形）的形式出现，能够作为定语修饰名词，或者作为状语，为主句的动作提供背景信息。

现在分词和过去分词作为定语

The burning logs crackled in the fireplace. 这里，“burning” 是现在分词，用作定语来修饰“logs”。它描述了木柴的状态——正在燃烧。

She read the letter written by her grandmother. 在这个例子中，“written” 是过去分词，作为定语修饰“letter”。这个分词说明信是被她的祖母写的，强调信的状态是已经写完的。

The delinquency rates on mortgages for office buildings, hotels, shopping malls, and other commercial properties held by the nation’s insurance companies have increased sharply in recent months, leading to predictions that foreclosures on these types of loans could double over the next three years. 在这个例句中，“held”是过去分词，做定语修饰名词短语 “mortgages for office buildings, hotels, shopping malls, and other commercial properties”，提供了额外的信息来具体化被修饰的名词（即抵押贷款）。

现在分词和过去分词作为状语

Sitting by the window, she watched the rain. 句中“Sitting by the window” 是现在分词短语，作为状语使用。这里的分词短语描述了她观看雨景时的动作和位置。

Frightened by the noise, the cat hid under the bed. 句中“Frightened by the noise” 是过去分词短语，用作状语。这说明了猫因为噪声感到害怕，是隐藏行为的原因。

Having finally reached a tentative labor agreement with its company’s pilots, the airline’s board of directors must now determine how the airline can both increase profits and compete more effectively for customers than it did in the past. 这里，“Having finally reached a tentative labor agreement with its company’s pilots” 是现在分词的完成形式，表达一种完成的动作，作为状语引导主句。它设置了接下来讨论的背景。

The delinquency rates on mortgages for office buildings, hotels, shopping malls, and other commercial properties held by the nation’s insurance companies have increased sharply in recent months, leading to predictions that foreclosures on these types of loans could double over the next three years. 这个例子中的“leading to predictions that foreclosures on these types of loans could double over the next three years” 使用现在分词“leading”作为状语，说明了前面提到的逾期率增加导致的后果。

当分词作为定语使用时，它主要用于修饰名词或名词短语，其作用类似于形容词。例如，现在分词如“burning”和过去分词如“written”均可用作定语。现在分词通常描述正在进行的动作或持续的状态，而过去分词则表达完成的状态或被动意义。

作为状语，分词的功能是描述主句中的动作发生的背景、方式、时间、原因或结果等。这种用法通过在主动作前后添加分词短语，增加了句子的深度和复杂性。

从本质上说，分词作为定语和状语的用法类似于定语从句和状语从句的简化形式。它们通过省略从句中的某些成分（如主语和助动词），将复杂的从句结构转化为更简洁的短语形式，同时保留了原有的语义和功能。这种简化不仅提高了语言的效率，还增强了可读性，是英语中一种极为实用的表达技巧。

接下来，我们将详细分析上述分词例句如何还原为完整的定语从句或状语从句。

The burning logs crackled in the fireplace.
The logs that were burning crackled in the fireplace.
She read the letter written by her grandmother.
She read the letter that was written by her grandmother.
Sitting by the window, she watched the rain.
While she was sitting by the window, she watched the rain.
Frightened by the noise, the cat hid under the bed.
Because it was frightened by the noise, the cat hid under the bed.
Having finally reached a tentative labor agreement with its company’s pilots, the airline’s board of directors must now determine how the airline can both increase profits and compete more effectively for customers than it did in the past.
After they had finally reached a tentative labor agreement with the company’s pilots, the airline’s board of directors must now determine how the airline can both increase profits and compete more effectively for customers than it did in the past.
The delinquency rates on mortgages for office buildings, hotels, shopping malls, and other commercial properties held by the nation’s insurance companies have increased sharply in recent months, leading to predictions that foreclosures on these types of loans could double over the next three years.
The delinquency rates on mortgages for office buildings, hotels, shopping malls, and other commercial properties that are held by the nation’s insurance companies have increased sharply in recent months, so that predictions are now being made that foreclosures on these types of loans could double over the next three years.