In the seventh century B.C., the Roman alphabet was adapted from the Etruscan alphabet, which in turn had been adapted in the previous century from a western Greek alphabet, which itself had been adapted earlier in the same century from the Phoenician alphabet.
题目如下27. In the seventh century B.C., the Roman alphabet was adapted from the Etruscanalphabet, which in turn had been adapted in the previous century from a western
Greek alphabet, which itself had been adapted earlier in the same century from the
Phoenician alphabet.
(A) which itself had been adapted earlier
(B) adapting itself earlier
(C) itself being adapted earlier
(D) having been earlier adapted itself
(E) earlier itself having been adapted
求各位大神:
1.E选项的earlier答案中说应该放在adapted之后,请问earlier的位置放在itself之前和放在adapted之后有什么区别?如果将earlier放在了adapted之后,是不是E选项就没有错误了?itself在这里的作用是指代Greek alphabet吗,如果是这样的话,是不是因为如果没有itself,这个分词修饰的就是roman alphabet了?
2、D选项og的解释如下
If itself is intended simply for emphasis, rather than as a reflexive pronoun, it would be preferable, in this context, to set it off with commas. But if it were intended in that way, it would seem to refer to the Roman alphabet, and the claim made in the sentence would be confusing and nearly nonsensical.
答案的意思是itself放在adapted之后不对,为什么set it off with commas就能表示强调呢?
一、先撇开解释的说法,个人认为D、E选项都有一个绝对语法错误:逗号+having been adapted结构。1、这个结构修饰的是主句主语“the Roman alphabet”,而不是逗号前的“Greek alphabet”,导致句意逻辑错误。
2、having been adapted这个用法太wordy,可以直接用adpated替换。
二、像earlier这种副词位置问题,我们要弄清它修饰的对象是什么。
根据句意,可以推测Greek alphabet的发明要早于Etruscan alphabet,所以earlier +in the same century最合理。
如果earlier修饰itself,那么句意就翻译不出了。
三、根据曼哈顿语法,itself这类reflexsive pronouns有两种用法:
1、作宾语指代主语
例1:After the agreement surfaced, the COMMISSION dissolved itself(指代commission)
例2:After the AGREEMENT surfaced, the commission dissolved it(指代agreement).
2、强调某个名词,本身无实意
例:The commission itself was wrong.
回到本题中,OG解释说在D选项“having been earlier adapted itself”里,itself作adapt的宾语,但是adpated是被动语态,不能加宾语,因此错。
OG继续说,如果itself不作宾语而作强调,那么前面加逗号,变成“逗号+itself in the same century”。
然而逗号+介词词组是修饰前面整句话,因此这时itself会有指代主句主语the Roman alphabet的歧义。