1. 偶然在有道字典看到这样一个句子:
My hometown is in a small town of Zhejiang province.
我觉得有错误,各位专家怎么看?
2.《薄冰高级语法》第七章提到:
long ago 可以和现在完成时连用。例句:
She has gone long ago.
我觉得这种说法不妥,各位专家怎么看?
王老师:
1.可以说My hometown is a small town in Zhejiang Province. in a small town就不合乎逻辑了。另外,town 后接地点不和of连用,要改为in。
2.long ago 和现在完成时连用, 在现代英语中已被普遍认为不规范的用法,尽管在英美报刊偶尔会见到,这可以从语料库中查到。如美国的 Time 杂志就多次出现这种用法。我想因为英语中有这种现象存在,所以薄冰教授就认为是正确的,但实际上这是不规范的。应该用 long since。
蒋老师:
▲同意前面几位老师的看法。long ago 原则上只与一般过去时连用。如:
They arrived in
We washed our hands of politics long ago. 好久以前我们就不再参与政治了。
Long ago, people believed that the world was flat. 很久以前人们相信地球是扁平的。
▲但是since long ago可以连用现在完成时。如:
This has been my ideal since long ago. 好久以来这一直是我的理想。
另外,正如王老师所说,long since也通常与完成时连用。如:
She has long since stopped smoking. 她很早之前就戒烟了。
I’ve long since forgiven her for what she did. 我早已原谅她的所作所为了。
▲在虚拟语气中,would+完成式可以与long ago连用。如:
If it had been left to me I would have put him out on the street long ago. 换了我,早就把他赶出家门了。
He would have sold the property long ago had it not been entailed. 这些财产若非限定继承的话,他早就卖掉了。
曹老师:
1. 《麦克米伦英语词典》对 home town 的解释为:the city or town where you lived as a child。因此,My home town is in a small town是个逻辑错误。不能说a town is in a town. 应改为:My home town is xxx, a small town in Zhejiang Province.
2. long ago 是不可以和现在完成时连用的。
王老师:
个人认为没有错误。