Glaciers form when the snow, sleet, and hail that fall in a given climatic region exceed the amount capable of being lost through evaporation or melting.
以下题目是Prep2012SC第六题:
Glaciers form when the snow, sleet, and hail that fall in a given climatic region exceed the amount capable of being lost through evaporation or melting.
A. the snow, sleet, and hail that fall in a given climatic region exceed the amount capable of being
B. a given climatic region's fallen snow, sleet, and hail exceeds the amount able to be
C. the amount of snow, sleet, and hail that falls in a given climatic region exceeds the amount
D. the snow, sleet, and hail in a given region exceeds the amount able to be
E. a given climatic region exceeds the amount of snow, sleet, and hail that falls and cannot be
答案是C,但snow,sleet and hail不是一个复数概念吗?为什么可以用falls???
求大神们指教谢谢!!!!!
其实这道题可以用比较对象必须一致的语法规则来解题,因为exceed就属于一个自带比较关系的动词。A超过了B,那么A、B必须是同类东西。
如下分别标出比较对象:
Glaciers form when the snow, sleet, and hail that fall in a given climatic region exceed the amount capable of being lost through evaporation or melting.
A. the snow, sleet, and hail that fall in a given climatic region exceed the amount capable of being
B. a given climatic region's fallen snow, sleet, and hail exceeds the amount able to be
C. the amount of snow, sleet, and hail that falls in a given climatic region exceeds the amount
D. the snow, sleet, and hail in a given region exceeds the amount able to be
E. a given climatic region exceeds the amount of snow, sleet, and hail that falls and cannot be红色是比较标志词exceed,黄色是比较对象
可以看出:除了C选项以外,A,B,D,E都是拿snow,sleet,hail,region之类的实体和amount这种抽象名词进行比较,所以它们都是错误的
falls用单数形式虽然意思上存在问题,不过可以理解为that仅仅就近修饰hail就没有问题了。虽然是语义上挺奇怪,不过在遵循 语法>语义>简洁 的原则下,A,C,D,E属于绝对错误,所以相比之下,C更优
Logical predication; Idiom
The point of this sentence is to explain the ratio of precipitation to loss of moisture that causes glaciers to form in a given climatic region. Some versions of the sentence obscure this explanation by introducing the climatic region into the ratio.
A. The phrase capable of being is excessively wordy. It introduces unnecessary ambiguity to the sentence, raising the possibility that a similar amount of water may or may not be lost through evaporation or melting. Comparison of precipitation forms with amount is illogical.
B. Able to be causes similar problems as capable of being in A. As in A, this has a similarly illogical comparison of precipitation forms.
C. Correct. This sentence makes the logical comparison between amounts of precipitation that fall and amounts that evaporate or melt.
D. The phrase able to be is wordy and ambiguous as in A and B. As in A, this has a similarly illogical comparison of precipitation forms.
E. This sentence makes the illogical comparison between a region and an amount of precipitation that falls. The verb cannot be has no logical subject. The double negative exceeds the amount that cannot be lost is confusing at best.
The correct answer is C.