man, woman 用于名词前作定语时,若后面的名词为复数,则 man, woman 也要用复数,如:
men nurses 男护士
women judges 女法官
但如果是 lady 或 gentleman 用于名词前作定语呢?此时的 lady 或 gentleman 是用单数还是复数。如:
A. lady friends, gentleman friends
B. ladies friends, gentlemen friends
哪个对?
陈老师:
这个问题很有意思!man, woman, lady, gentleman 都可用于名词前作定语(有的语法著作称之为“同位语复合词”),用以区分性别,当它们修饰复数名词时,lady 通常是用单数,但另外三个,即 man, woman, gentleman 却要用复数。关于 man, woman 的用法很多语法书都有论述,这里撇开不说。下面是关于lady, gentleman的有关用法说明。
1. 关于 lady 的用法
(1)《朗文当代英语辞典》(2003年第4版) lady 词条有:lady doctor / lawyer etc (=a polite word, which many women find offensive, for a woman doctor, lawyer, etc)
(2)《剑桥高级英语词典》(第3版)lady 词条有:[C] old-fashioned sometimes used before the name of a job done by a woman: a lady doctor
(3)《麦克米伦高阶英语词典》lady 词条有:[only before noun] OLD-FASHIONED used for referring to what a woman’s profession is, for example a lady doctor or lady lawyer.
(4)《柯林斯COBUILD高阶英汉双解学习词典》lady 词条:lady friend (lady friends) 女友;女伴(A man's lady friend is the woman with whom he is having a romantic or sexual relationship)
2. 关于 gentleman的用法
《英语语法大全》(夸克等著)的第5.102节指出:Appositional compounds (a woman doctor [‘The doctor is a woman’]) whose first element is, or includes, man or woman pluralize both the first and the last element:
gentleman farmer—gentlemen farmers
man servant—men servants (old-fashioned)
woman doctor—women doctors
黎老师:
1.我查阅了很多词典,没有发现gentleman(或 gentlemen)后接名词的例句。
2. 外研社、建宏《英汉多功能词典》lady 词条中有以下内容:
(当形容词用)女性的,妇女的 / a lady doctor [lawyer] 女医生[女律师] ( 因含有轻蔑之意,所以宜改用 a woman doctor [lawyer] 较妥 )
3. 其他实例:
lady friend (lady friends) 女友;女伴 (《柯林斯COBUILD高阶英汉双解学习词典》)