一句分詞構句

Question

Native Americans probably arrived from Asia in successive waves over several millennia, crossing a plain hundreds of miles wide that now lies inundated by 160 feet of water released by melting glaciers.

crossing a plain ... 這個分詞構句是怎麼來的呢 ? which cross ? who cross ?

請順便翻譯，謝謝！


*並不會是 ....., and..... 分詞構句，and 這個字是有先後順序的，不會先 ... arrive ... 再 ... cross ...

那請問 Kevin，後面整個 crossing a plain ... 修飾的對象為何呢 ? Native Americans ? arrived? 還是 Native Americans probably ... 這整句 ?

我問另一位老師，他跟我說這是兩個句子用關係代名詞的合併，Native Americans probably arrived from Asia in successive waves over several millennia, who crossed a plain .....

省略 who 所以 crossed 變成 crossing

感覺上也沒問題耶!

非常謝謝你! 這樣我就懂了! 稍後會給你最佳解答!

請問您有讀過哪些文法書呢? 可以推薦一下嗎? 您可以發表在意見欄。

Answer 1

Native Americans probably arrived from Asia in successive waves over several millennia, crossing a plain hundreds of miles wide that now lies inundated by 160 feet of water released by melting glaciers.

還原為副詞子句:
Native Americans probably arrived from Asia in successive waves over several millennia, after they crossed a plain hundreds of miles wide that now lies inundated by 160 feet of water released by melting glaciers.
美洲的原住民可能是在幾千年的時間中, 陸續由亞洲跨越幾百英哩寬的平原而抵達此處的. 而如今在冰河融化後, 這塊平原已被淹沒在160英呎深的水面下.


2007-04-17 12:51:35 補充：
1. 副詞子句可以修飾arrived, 也可以修飾整句, 語意差異不明顯.
2. 關係代名詞引導一個形容詞子句, 最好緊接著其修飾標的, 除非您有把握不會引起誤解. 所以寫成以下的型態比較保險:

2007-04-17 12:51:44 補充：
Native Americans, who crossed a plain hundreds of miles wide that now lies inundated by 160 feet of water released by melting glaciers, probably arrived from Asia in successive waves over several millennia.

2007-04-17 12:58:35 補充：
原本crossed與arrived兩者有緊密的相關, 改為形容詞子句之後, 則關係似乎變淡了, 反而crossed與主詞native Americans較密切. 語意有所不同, 文法結構倒是沒有什麼可議之處.

2007-04-18 11:21:37 補充：
文法書在我看來應該當字典或百科全書使用, 直接"讀"恐怕很難下嚥. ^_^
我看的書很雜, 不過柯旗化的書應該是很多人都聽過的. 賀氏全書也很不錯.
其實自己唸得習慣最重要.