“短语”与“分句”
刘应德
摘要：在现代英语语法中，语法学家从逻辑意义的角度将“分句”分为“限定分句”和“非限定分句”，这样“分句”的下位概念“非限定分句”的所指外延包括传统语法的“词和词组”等结构；从句法功能上讲，“短语”可由一个“词素”或几个单词构成的“词组”或“分句”来充当。因此，“短语”的所指外延含盖了从句法角度定义的“分句”的外延，“短语”是小于“句子”但大于或等于“分句”的语法单位，即“短语”≥“分句”＜“句子”。传统语法从句法结构的角度区别这一对概念，“分句”必须有限定动词做谓语，没有限定动词的一串词汇只构成“短语”，这一区别方法对英语学习者来说既清楚明白又方便实用且至今尚未过时。
关键词：短语；分句；限定；非限定
“Phrases” and “Clauses”
Abstract: In modern English grammar, grammarians divide “clauses” into “finite clauses” and “nonfinite clauses” from the logical point of view. Thus the denotation of “a nonfinite cla
use”, a hyponym of “a clause”, covers that of “a word or a group of words”, which are traditional grammar terms. From the perspective of syntactic function, “phrases” can be made up of “a morpheme” or “a group of words” or “a clause”. Therefore, the denotation of “ a phrase” covers that of “a clause” which is defined from syntax, i.e. the grammatical unit of “a phrase ” has an extension just smaller than “a sentence” but equal to or bigger than “a clause”, or simply “a phrase” ≥ “a clause” ＜ “a sentence”. Traditional grammar distinguishes this pair of terms from the syntactic point of view: “a clause” must have a finite verb as its predicate while a group of words, without a finite verb, can only be classified as “a phrase”, which, for English learners, is not yet out of date but very clear and practical.
Key words: phrases; clauses; finite; non-finite
一、 引言：
  不久前一学生问：“The final examination coming near” 究竟对不对？由于没有一个判断标准，笔者也不知如何回答。张克礼先生在其专著《新英语语法》（2005）说：“非限定性
结构和无动词结构之所以分析为分句，不分析为短语，是因为他们的内部结构和限定性分句一样可以分析为各种功能成分，即由分句成分组成的序列，而且没有中心词（短语都有中心词）。”[1]在张先生看来，短语与分句是完全不同的两个单位。但是，就在该著作的次页上又出现“I enjoy teaching.(只含中心词的非限定动词短语或只含动词的非限定性分句)”[1]343这样的分析实例，从此例看来“非限定动词短语”和“非限定性分句”的区别又不是那么明显。薄冰先生（2004）说：“传统语法认为，构成分句的基本条件是限定动词，非限定动词不能构成分句，只能构成短语。而现代语法则不同，它认为主句中必须有限定动词，而从句中用限定动词或非限定动词都可以。”[2]章振邦先生在《新编英语语法教程》（2003）说：“英语的语法结构具有层次性。它可分为五个不同的层次，即句子(sentence)、分句(clause)、词组(phrase)、词(word)和词素（morpheme）。句子是语法的最高层次，由一个或一个以上的分句构成的；分句由一个或一个以上的词组构成；词组由一个或一个以上的词构成；词由一个或一个以上的词素构成。”[3]1 我们可以将其简单地表述为“句子≥分句≥短语≥词≥词素”，分句就可能等于词组即短语。马庆株也说：“词组和小句界限不容易划清，小句和句子的界限也难于确定。”[4]那么究竟何为“短语”何为“分句”呢？
二、“短语”和“分句”的定义：
在现代汉语中，“短语”被定义为：“词组”[5]341，而词组的具体定义是：“两个或更多的词的组合（区别于“单词”），如“新社会，打扫干净，破除迷信”。也叫短语。”[5]222“分句”在现代汉语中被定义为：“语法上指复句里划分出来的相当于单句的部分。分句和分句之间一般有停顿，在书面上用逗号或分号表示。分句和分句在意义上有一定的联系，常用一些关联词语（连词、有关联作用的副词或词组）来连接，如：天晴了，雪也化了。”[5]400
英语中的phrase被定义为：“(grammar) a group of words without a finite verb, especially one that forms part of a sentence. ‘the green car’ and ‘on Friday morning’ are phrases.”[6] 949 “a sequence of two or more words arranged in a grammatical unit and lacking a finite verb or such elements of clause structure as subject and verb, as a preposition and a noun or pronoun, an adjective and noun, or an adverb and verb, esp. such a construction acting as a unit in a sentence.”[7] 1018英语中的clause被定义为：“(grammar) a group of words that includes a subject and a verb, and forms a sentence or part of a sentence: In the sentence ‘They often go to Italy because they love the food’, ‘They often go to Italy’ is the main clause and ‘because they love the food’ is a subordinate clause.”[6]215“a syntac
tic construction containing a subject and predicate and forming part of a sentence or constituting a whole simple sentence.”[7]251从以上的中英文定义来看，我们只能得到这样的判断：短语（或词组phrase）是大于“词”或“单词”的一个语法单位，而分句（clause）是小于“句子”但等于“简单句”的一个语法单位。
三、 从逻辑意义的角度区别：
  由于“Weather permitting, the cricket match will be played on Wednesday. = If weather permits, the cricket match will be played on Wednesday.”[3]566这两句话中的斜体部分表达基本相同的含义，现代英语语法从逻辑意义的角度，将具有显形逻辑主语和隐形逻辑主语的“一串词汇”甚至将能扩展为一个具有逻辑主谓含义的一个“单词”分析为“分句”，然后将“分句”再分为“限定性分句”和“非限定性分句”，即句中有限定性动词做谓语的分句为限定性分句，句中没有限定性动词的分句为非限定性分句。比如Quirk等人在其语法巨著 A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language(1985)的“不定式分句To- infinitive clauses”下有如下例句：“To be neutral in this conflict is out of the question. He likes to relax. The best excuse is to say that you have an examination tomorrow morning. Your a
mbition, to become a farmer, requires the energy and perseverance that you so obviously have. I’m very eager to meet her. For your country to be neutral in this conflict is out of the question. I’m very eager for them to meet….”[8] 1061；同样他们在“ Ing分句 -ing clauses” 下有如下例句：“Watching television keeps them out of mischief. He enjoys playing practical jokes. Her job had been selling computers. His current research, investigating attitudes to racial stereotypes, takes up most of his time. They are busy preparing a barbecue. I’m responsible for drawing up the budget. I intended to voice my objections to their receiving an invitation to our meeting. My forgetting her name was embarrassing….”[8]1063-1064他们还在“无动词分句verbless clauses”下有如下例句：“A friend in need is a friend indeed. Wall-to-wall carpet in every room is their dream. Are bicycles wise in heavy traffic?”[8]1068他们将最后一例分析为含有两个“无动词分句”的简单句是因为可以将其解释为：“Is it wise to have bicycles in heavy traffic? Or Is it wise for there to be bicycles in heavy traffic?”[8]1068这样句中的bicycles一个单词也就构成一个“无动词分句”。章振邦先生在“不定式分句”下有如下例句：“I hope to be able to come. He likes to be invited. The best thing would be for you to tell everybody. He opened the door f
or the children to come in. It’s important for there to be a fire-escape….”[3]541-542；在“-ing分词分句” 下，章先生有如下例句：“One of my bad habits is biting nails. He denied having been there. I have a friend living in London. I heard him singing in the next room. Beating a child will do more harm than good. When sleeping, I never hear a thing. Do you mind my/ me making a suggestion? With the tree growing up, we get more shade.”[3]549-551；还在“-ed分词分句”下有如下例句：“Covered with confusion, she hurriedly left the room. The dictionary will look nice when printed. The job finished, we went home straight away. With the tree grown tall, we get more shade….”[3]554-555；还在“无动词分句”下有如下例句：“Speechless, Victor Henry nodded and sat on a folding seat. Big and fat, she went to Mass every Sunday morning. An excellent speaker, he was never at a loss for a word. When still a boy of six, Bob was sent away from home. Although always helpful, he was not much liked by people. Breakfast over, he went to his counting house….”[3]561-562从上面的例句可以看出，当现代英语语法学家们能为句中的“形容词、形容词短语、名词或名词短语、不定式、-ing分词或-ed分词”到一个逻辑意义上的显形或隐形主语时，这些结构就被分析为“非限定分句”。这样从逻辑意义上看，“分句”的下位概念“
非限定分句”的所指外延实际上就包括了传统语法的“词和词组”等结构。
四、 从句法功能的角度区别
如果根据一个或一串词汇在句中的“功能”为标准，以字母构成的词素，以词素构成的词，以词构成的短语（或词组），以及由短语构成的分句之间便不存在明确的界限，只要他们在句中的作用即功能相同，他们就是同样的短语。Quirk等人在A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language（1985.245）中写到：“Types of noun phrases The noun phrase typically functions as subject, object, and complement of clauses and as complement of prepositional phrases. Consider the different subjects in the following sentences:
The girl                                              is my sister  （1）
The blonde girl                                      is my sister  （2）
The blonde girl in blue jeans                        is my sister.  （3）
The blonde girl wearing blue jeans                    is my sister  （4）
The blonde girl who is wearing blue jeans            is my sister  （5）
She                                                  is my sister  （talented的用法和短语6）”[8]245在Quirk等人看来前面六例中的六类名词短语在句中是起同样的作用即做句子主语，第六例中没有名词，仅有一个代词She，第五例中的名词短语还含有一个定语从句，但是他们在句中的功能却完全一样，因此可以分析为不同类型的“名词短语”。

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