英文句子文法結構分析

Question

以下是一位休士頓大學教授(Robert Carp)寫的句子:


It is the only language text that I know of that is just as useful for a Westerner learning Cninese as it is for a Chinese-speaking person learning English.


請幫忙分析一下此句的文法結構.

Answer 1

這句話的主要架構是屬於表示強調用法的分裂句：
It is 被強調的詞句 that . . .
在這當中被強調的部份可以是
一、名詞(片語或子句皆可)，而該名詞是屬後面 that 子句中的主詞或受詞：
It is John that she likes. (名詞：likes 的受詞被強調了)
It is the boy in blue that she likes. (名詞片語：likes 的受詞被強調)
It is what he said that irriated me. (名詞子句：irritated 的主詞被強調了)
二、也可以是副詞(片語或子句) ：
It is yesterday that he went to Japan. (副詞)
It is in the safe that he keeps his money. (副詞片語)
It is becasue he is sick that he can't attend the meeting. (副詞子句)
你所提問的句子即屬於第一種，被強調的是名詞片語，只不過這個名詞片語是由一個名詞及一個形容詞子句組成的：
It is the only language text (名詞片語) that I know of (形容詞子句) that is just as useful for a Westerner learning Cninese as it is for a Chinese-speaking person learning English.
(反白處即為被強調的詞句)
所有的強調句型基本上都可以還原成一般的詞序（也就是不用分裂句子），如上面的例子：
It is John that she likes.
--> She likes John.
同樣的你這句話也可以：
Ｔhe only languagetext (主詞) that I know of is (動詞) just as useful for a Westerner learning Cninese as it is for a Chinese-speaking person learning English.
該句是主詞被強調，所以只需將原來被強調的詞句放在主詞的位置，再加上動詞 is 搭配即可。
為求更加清楚了解，我依照上述的句子結構改成簡單的字眼來對照，你會更明白：
It is the boy who is standing there that stole the money.
--> The boy (主詞) who is standing there stole (動詞) the money.


2007-03-07 17:43:31 補充：
基本上是形容詞子句的話，關代 that 改成 which 自然是沒有影響的。

不過這個句子的先行詞有 the only 的關係，故關代在使用上有所設限，只能用 that 了。

2007-03-08 08:09:06 補充：
剛剛得知這句話還有上文：
This book is extremely valuable for at least two reasons. First, it is the only language text I know of ...

故此處的 it 就應該是代名詞，指的是前面的那本書，如果句子是以The book is the only language text....提問的話，會比用it is the ....更清楚，因為在沒有上下文的情況下，it 可能就會有兩種解讀，一種是我以上所回答的。

2007-03-08 08:11:48 補充：
不過如果這裡的 it 不是個虛詞的話，那當然就不會是分裂句的句型，故必須要以第二種解讀來看：

兩個 that 都是關係代名詞，先行詞都是 the only language text，
句意的主要結構為 It is the only language text that is just as useful.... ；

that I know of 較像插入語，在整句句意中它的內容是可有可無的，也就是它在句子中，不會影響主要結構的意義（只是作者聊備一格的補充說明）。

2007-03-08 08:12:27 補充：
這種例子其實不少，如：
....when I do "something that I know that is not considered right for them."
http://sofiii.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_sofiii_archive.html

And this is "something that I know that is an issue ....."
http://www.dfat.gov.au/media/transcripts/2002/020528_t_mexico_energy.html

2007-03-08 08:12:34 補充：
不過倒是不沒有注意到用 it is 開頭的，或許這才是會造成混淆的原因吧。

2007-03-08 08:29:34 補充：
最後再補充一點：
像這種兩個形容詞子句去修飾同一個先行詞的情況其實似乎只出現在 that I know (of) that .... 相似用語中，
不同結構的子句情況則好像沒有印象有，或許這種句型的侷限性是很強的：

只能夠用在單一句型（或很少數的句型）中，也就是除了 that I know of that 之外，還有像 that they think that ... , that we believe that ... , that we consider that ... 的例子。

2007-03-08 08:29:41 補充：
I know, they think, we believe, we consider等這一類的用語常在句中扮演插入語的腳色，故在此句型中儘管是以形容詞子句的型態呈現，其結構的存在與否並不會影響主要的句意，故個人認為仍應以補述的插入語視之。

Answer 2

請問Adam大大
若寫成It is the only language text which I know of that
在此句用which是否構成文法上的錯誤呢?

2007-03-07 18:02:58 補充：
嗯,謝謝大師

2007-03-08 19:38:57 補充：
補充的這麼詳細

辛苦了

Answer 3

可分析成以下子句及片語:

It is the only language text that I know of
that
(it) is just as useful for a Westerner learning Cninese
as
it is for a Chinese-speaking person learning English

全句中兩個 that 都是關係代名詞，只是第一個that接的是短子句 I know of。

用到的片語則是: as …… as (it is) ，連接的是兩個對等句子:
(1) (it) is just as useful for a Westerner learning Cninese.
(2) it is (useful) for a Chinese-speaking person learning English.

中譯: 這是我唯一知道的語言文本，此文本對幫助西方人學習中文的效用，就像對幫助說中文者學英文一樣。