2012年3月22日星期四

古德明: Consist的兩個意思



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 pronounwhichin字倒置於consisted之前而已。此外,句子動詞consisted也倒置於主詞(subjectsole 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 themand... in them = in which)。

留意consist ofconsist in不同。Consist of指「由……組成」,consist in則指「在於」或「等於」,例如:(1His investment portfolio consists of bonds, stocks, and real estate(他的投資組合包括債券、股票、房地產)。(2I 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」。