問：貴欄日前有以下一句：Some of his soldiers had carried off her cattle, in which consisted her
sole wealth（他麾下士兵搶了她的牛，而那些牛就是她的全部財產）。句中consisted之後，是不是應加of？
答：Consist是不及物動詞（intransitive verb），必須和介系詞（preposition）連用，才可帶出受詞（object）。英文當然不可以說which
consisted her sole wealth。
但是，讀者說的那一句，consisted是和介系詞in連用的，只是由於用了關係代名詞（relative
pronoun）which，in字倒置於consisted之前而已。此外，句子動詞consisted也倒置於主詞（subject）sole wealth之前，以加強語氣，這是頗不尋常的，所以讀者誤把sole wealth當作受詞。句子可改寫如下：Some
of his soldiers had carried off her cattle, in which her sole wealth consisted。假如改用「連接詞＋代名詞」而不用關係代名詞，則可以這樣寫：Some of his soldiers had
carried off her cattle, and her sole wealth consisted in them（and...
in them = in which）。
留意consist
of和consist in不同。Consist of指「由……組成」，consist in則指「在於」或「等於」，例如：（1）His investment portfolio consists of bonds, stocks, and real
estate（他的投資組合包括債券、股票、房地產）。（2）I
don't think patriotism consists in saying "Yes" to those in power（我認為愛國不等於向當權者唯唯諾諾）。
【代郵】啟章先生：「青雲」並非「烏雲」。「青」即淡藍色，故曰「青天白日」。「青雲」、「青冥」亦即「青天」。
