老师:您好!
And it was basically to keep a peace within England, a peace treaty of some sort.
of some sort 我不明白为什么这里要用 some,我有看到过词组 some sort of,表示“某种”,可为什么这里 of 在 some 前面了呢?倒装吗?谢谢。
谭老师:
▲这不是倒装现象,只是of的不同意义导致了语义相似的两种结构而已。
倒装不会改变成分的语法功能,只是纯粹的位置变化。
而a peace treaty of some sort和some sort of peace treaty这两个名词短语的语法结构不同:
前者中,名词短语some sort充当of的补足语,然后整个介词短语充当peace treaty的后置修饰语,最后在前面加上a来限定;
后者中,名词短语peace treaty充当of的补足语,然后整个介词短语充当sort的后置修饰语,最后在前面加上some来限定。
▲of的意义之一是表示名词拥有某种属性。比如:
• They do that for a specific reason, because nearly every one of all ages, races, and creeds buy Nintendo products. 他们这样做是出于一个特别的原因,因为不同年龄,种族和信仰的人都购买任天堂的产品。
• But there was no evidence that this advantage depended on the married parents being of different genders. 但是并没有证据表明这个优势依赖于父母亲双方是不同性别的。
• People of all colors and creeds have come here to celebrate the holiday. 各种肤色和各种宗教信仰的人聚集在这里欢度节日。
• Whenever Zombie Boa becomes blocked by a creature of that color this turn, destroy that creature. 于本回合中,每当僵尸蟒蛇被该色的生物阻挡时,消灭该生物。
• It has been used for the simulation of running processes of vehicles of different maximum speeds. 该模型被用于模拟具有不同最大速度的车辆行驶过程。
• The crisis faced over the next few months is of an entirely different scale. 接下来几个月内将要面临的危机规模将是无法相比的。
• Both world wars were of unquestionable importance as economic events. 两次世界大战都是重要性无可置疑的经济事件。
因为“种类”也是一种属性,所以sort和kind也适用此结构。这也是你提问的这个用法。
• I'm going to have a salad of some sort. 我想吃某种沙拉。
• Eddie was playing a game of some sort. 埃迪正在玩一种游戏。
• Would you like a drink of some kind? 您想喝点什么吗?
• Exercises of this kind are very popular. 这种体育活动非常流行。
• Ear pain of any kind must never be ignored. 决不要忽视耳部的任何疼痛。
▲of的另一意义是表示名词包含其他东西。比如:
• a bottle of beer 一瓶啤酒
• plates of gold and silver 金银制成的盘子
• a book of short stories 一本短篇小说集
由此衍生出of的量词功能,以及表示材料和内容的义项。
我们最熟悉的a kind/sort of等结构就属于此类情况。
▲一般而言,“(a/an)+(若干前置修饰语)+名词+of+限定词+sort(s)/kind(s)”和“限定词+sort(s)/kind(s) of+(若干前置修饰语)+名词”可以相互替换,比如:
• a game of some sort = some sort of game
• things of all sorts = all sorts of things
• people of this kind = kind of two people
• pain of any kind = any kind of pain
▲此外,of还可以表示范围,这种情况往往会与最高级、first/last、基数词、表示数量的代词连用,修饰名词或者充当状语。比如:
• They met and fell in love in a supermarket, of all places. 那么多地方,他们偏偏就在超市里相遇并相爱了。
• The first of these two was the tallest of all the children, a dark and thin girl. 其中第一个孩子是个子最高,肤深腰纤的女孩。
• She was the last of the great educational reformers. 她是唯一健在的伟大的教育改革家。
因为one's kind可以表示“在同类事物之中”这一范围,所以有of one's kind的用法。
• The school is the first of its kind in Britain. 这是英国同类学校中最早的一所。
• Her travel company was the first of its kind. 她的旅行社是同类中的首家。
• This book prize is the biggest of its kind in the world. 这一图书奖项是世界上同类奖项中分量最重的。
• The new deal was considered to be the most generous of its kind. 这一新交易被认为是同类交易中最大的一笔。
请留意这种用法和上述第一种用法形式相似,但结构和意义均不同,也无法进行上述的替换。
the best of its kind ≠ * its kind of the best
黎老师:
of some sort / some sort of sth (= used when you do not know exactly what type) 某种的 / 某种事物
...... There was a game of some sort going on inside. 这里面正在进行某个比赛。(《朗文高级英语应试词典》sort)