文档介绍：静态与动态—名词优势与 动词优势 Stative vs. Dynamic: Noun Dominance vs. Verb Dominance
在谈及名词的静态和动词的动态时候, 曾这样论述:
Broadly speaking, nouns can be characterized naturally as “stative” in that they refer to entities that are regarded as stable, whether these are concrete like house, table, paper, or abstract (of the mind) like hope, botany, length. At the opposite pole, verbs can be equally naturally characterized as “dynamic”: they are fitted (by their capacity to show tense and aspect, for example) to indicate action, activity and temporary or changing condition.
在任何语言中,名词和动词都是最重要的词类;任何语言中的句型都可以归纳为静态和动态两大类。究竟是名词用的多,即名词优势(noun dominance)还是动词优势(verb dominance),不仅取决于这个民族认识世界和反映客观现实的方式特点,还取决于语言本身的结构特点。
就汉语和英语对比来看,在语言运用中,英语倾向于多用名词,因而叙述多呈现静态(stative),而汉语多用动词,因而叙述多呈现动态(dynamic)。例如:
Hard pressed by his father, John told the truth in spite of his wife’s warning.
约翰被他老子追急了,也就顾不得老婆的叮嘱,说出了真情。
名词化(norminalization)是英语中常见的现象。名词化主要指用名词来表达原来属于动词(或形容词)所表达的概念,比如可以用抽象名词来表达动作、行为、变化、状态、品质、情感等概念。
运用名词表达法可以使叙述较为准确、贴切,但同时也会使语言抽象、难解。
过分使用名词会使文句冗长和含糊。
在谈及英语名词化特性时,:
It seems possible to express ideas with greater precision and adequacy by means of nouns than by means of the more pictorial verbs. …When we express by means of nouns what is generally expressed by finite verbs, our language es not only more abstract, but more abstruse, owing among other things to the fact that in the verbal substantive some of the life-giving elements of the verb (time, mood, person) disappear.
(,1951,The Philosophy of Grammar,p139)
For example:
The effect of the overuse of nouns in writing is the placing of too much strain upon the verbs and the resultant prevention of movement of the thought.
如果将部分名词改为动词,可以化静态为动态:
One who overuses nouns in writing places too much strain upon the verbs and as a result prevents the thought from moving along.
Compare the following pairs:
医生迅速到达,并非常仔细地检查了病人,因此病人很快就康复了。
The doctor arrived extremely quickly and examined the patient monly careful