几个有意思的语法题，没完全想好，贴出来大家讨论。sdcar2010大牛在不，发表下看法哦

mudiduange

Darwin  was not the first to advance a theory of evolution; his tremendous originality lay in the fact that he proposed the idea of natural selection as the means by which evolution worked.
(A) lay in the fact that he proposed the idea
(B) lay in the fact of his proposing the idea
(C) laid in the fact of his proposing the idea
(D) laid in his proposal
(E) lay in his proposal
A为何不对？

A discussion of our nations foreign policy must begin with the fact of there being an independent Western Europe which now thinks of itself in trans-nationalist terms.

(A) A discussion of our nation’s foreign policy must begin with the fact of there being
(B) Beginning any discussion of our nation’s foreign policy must be the fact of there being
(C) Any discussion of our nation’s foreign policy must begin with the fact that there is
(D) Any discussion of our nation’s foreign policy must begin by acknowledging the existence of
(E) To begin discussing our nation’s foreign policy thee must be an acknowledgment of the fact that
C为何不对？
以上两个用法我提出疑问的选项都是从句形式，而给出的正确答案都是用名词形式，这个里面是否隐含了什么原则？

The investigations of many psychologists and anthropologists support the generalization of there being little that is a significant difference in the underlying mental processes manifested by people from different cultures.
(A) of there being little that is a significant difference
(B) of there being little that is significantly different
(C) of little that is significantly different
(D) that there is little that is significantly different
(E) that there is little of significant differences
D：第二个that是什么用法？

babybearmm

前两道题都是逻辑问题。第三道题斑斑给出了强力解答了~


1.
You CANNOT say Darwin's originality lay in the fact that bla bla.
Logically speaking, a "fact" cannot bear "originality", but someone's "proposal" can.


Analogy:
WRONG: His creativity lay in the fact that he wrote this treatise.
CORRECT: His creativity lay in his treatise.


2.
Another logical issue. You cannot say a "discussion" begins with a "fact".
Instead we should say, for example,
the discussion begins with the disclosure of the fact
the discussion begins with the acknowledgement of the fact
the discussion begins with the dissection of the fact
the discussion begins with the analysis of the fact
or, we can using "by doing sth":
the discussion begins by acknowledging the fact
...


The point is, if you want to say:  X begins with Y, you should make sure that Y is the LOGICAL beginning of X.
Here X is "the discussion", which is an action noun in the context of the sentence, whereas "fact" is a concrete noun. Therefore, it is ILLOGICAL to say that a discussion begins with a fact.
We can use an action noun - such as disclosure, analysis, acknowledgement, dissection, etc. - as the beginning of the discussion (an action noun).

Darwin  was not the first to advance a theory of evolution; his tremendous originality lay in the fact that he proposed the idea of natural selection as the means by which evolution worked.
(A) lay in the fact that he proposed the idea
(B) lay in the fact of his proposing the idea
(C) laid in the fact of his proposing the idea
(D) laid in his proposal
(E) lay in his proposal
A为何不对？

A discussion of our nations foreign policy must begin with the fact of there being an independent Western Europe which now thinks of itself in trans-nationalist terms.

(A) A discussion of our nation’s foreign policy must begin with the fact of there being
(B) Beginning any discussion of our nation’s foreign policy must be the fact of there being
(C) Any discussion of our nation’s foreign policy must begin with the fact that there is
(D) Any discussion of our nation’s foreign policy must begin by acknowledging the existence of
(E) To begin discussing our nation’s foreign policy thee must be an acknowledgment of the fact that
C为何不对？
以上两个用法我提出疑问的选项都是从句形式，而给出的正确答案都是用名词形式，这个里面是否隐含了什么原则？

The investigations of many psychologists and anthropologists support the generalization of there being little that is a significant difference in the underlying mental processes manifested by people from different cultures.
(A) of there being little that is a significant difference
(B) of there being little that is significantly different
(C) of little that is significantly different
(D) that there is little that is significantly different
(E) that there is little of significant differences
D：第二个that是什么用法？

-- by 会员 mudiduange (2010/12/29 11:10:31)

mongmong

还有另外一种理解there is little of (significant difference in the underlying mental processes manifested by .....) ，所以in the underlying mental processes是修饰little还是修饰difference有歧义。

-- by 会员 aeoluseros (2012/5/24 10:44:02)

谢谢斑竹~~

aeoluseros

还有另外一种理解there is little of (significant difference in the underlying mental processes manifested by .....) ，所以in the underlying mental processes是修饰little还是修饰difference有歧义。

mongmong

3.little是名词，that做关系代词，即定语从句引导词。

-- by 会员 aeoluseros (2010/12/30 8:54:30)

请问选项E里的little是名词吗？如果little是名词，there is little of significant differences哪里有错？

The investigations of many psychologists and anthropologists support the generalization of there being little that is a significant difference in the underlying mental processes manifested by people from different cultures.
(A) of there being little that is a significant difference
(B) of there being little that is significantly different
(C) of little that is significantly different
(D) that there is little that is significantly different
(E) that there is little of significant differences

-- by 会员 mongmong (2012/5/23 10:34:25)

因为little是不可数名词，而且在此不是形容differences的“程度”(换句话说就是没有把所有的differences作为整体看)，因此后面对的differences不能用复数。

-- by 会员 aeoluseros (2012/5/24 4:31:38)

这里little是不可数名词,可不可以理解成there is little (of significant difference) in the underlying mental processes manifested by .....
(即已经把differences改写成单数, of significant difference来修饰little , 这样对吗?)

aeoluseros

3.little是名词，that做关系代词，即定语从句引导词。

-- by 会员 aeoluseros (2010/12/30 8:54:30)

请问选项E里的little是名词吗？如果little是名词，there is little of significant differences哪里有错？

The investigations of many psychologists and anthropologists support the generalization of there being little that is a significant difference in the underlying mental processes manifested by people from different cultures.
(A) of there being little that is a significant difference
(B) of there being little that is significantly different
(C) of little that is significantly different
(D) that there is little that is significantly different
(E) that there is little of significant differences

-- by 会员 mongmong (2012/5/23 10:34:25)

因为little是不可数名词，而且在此不是形容differences的“程度”(换句话说就是没有把所有的differences作为整体看)，因此后面对的differences不能用复数。

mongmong

3.little是名词，that做关系代词，即定语从句引导词。

-- by 会员 aeoluseros (2010/12/30 8:54:30)

请问选项E里的little是名词吗？如果little是名词，there is little of significant differences哪里有错？

The investigations of many psychologists and anthropologists support the generalization of there being little that is a significant difference in the underlying mental processes manifested by people from different cultures.
(A) of there being little that is a significant difference
(B) of there being little that is significantly different
(C) of little that is significantly different
(D) that there is little that is significantly different
(E) that there is little of significant differences

幸运四叶草

superbat28

aeo的意思貌似是说：there be强调的是一种“自然存在”。比如There is a house over there.
所以，既然它强调自然存在，就不要跟抽象的名词了。。嗯。。

幸运四叶草