高人请进：whatever 大全sec12-26

zcx

26.   According to some analysts, whatever its merits, the proposal to tax away all capital gains on short-term investments would, if enacted, have a disastrous effect on Wall Street trading and employment.

(A) its merits, the proposal to tax

(B) its merits may be, the proposal of taxing

(C) its merits as a proposal, taxing

(D) the proposal’s merits, to tax（A）

(E) the proposal’s merits are, taxing

就这题，偶想请教whatever 的用法：在什么情况下省略谓语？

LES

偶不知道这里是不是省略，不过白勇老师说whatever 的用法是：

1. whatever + 句子。
2. whatever + 名词/名词短语。

还请NN指点！

zcx

ANY NN?

weiyu

From Longman dictionary

used to say that it is not important what happens, what you do etc because it does not change the situation
Whatever I suggest, he always disagrees.

The building must be saved, whatever the cost.

If you are unable to attend the interview, for whatever reason, you should inform us immediately.

个人认为whatever its merits (are); what ever the cost (is)  whatever reason (is)这里be动词不表示任何意思，还是省略的好。

To be discussed....

X_TonY_X

whatever + noun 是固定用法, whatever its costs are ; whatever its costs may be 皆错, 长期英语使用中养成的规律:

He decides that, whatever the difficulty of the test, he will conquer GMAT. Plz let us know the results whenever you have them.  ETC.

zcx

咦，5楼的gg,你有引自书典的例子吗？为什么这么肯定？你得解释只是针对be 动词么？谢谢

X_TonY_X

对, 如果是be 动词的话, 补出和不补出在意思上无区别, 所以久而久之, be动词省略, 补出算错, 至少在我读过的所有美国书面英语(Nytimes, all presentations, etc)中是这样.  一些少量的特例如: whoever he is, whatever it is, 一般用于代词后.

如果不是be动词,原则上应该加出动词, 比如上面的 whatever i suggest, 因为省略和不省略意思明显不一样.

LES

Tony 是不是说 -ever构成的词如whoever, wherever, whatever, whenever等的用法一样？

mariezhu

我觉得X_TonY_X说得有道理，不过我也没有找到理论依据，只找到下面这些，与大家分享：

whatever
  
PRONOUN: 1. Everything or anything that: Do whatever you please. 2. What amount that; the whole of what: Whatever is left over is yours. 3. No matter what: Whatever happens, we'll meet here tonight. 4. Informal Which thing or things; what: Whatever does he mean? 5. Informal What remains and need not be mentioned; what have you: Please bring something to the party–pretzels, crackers, whatever.  

ADJECTIVE: 1. Of any number or kind; any: Whatever requests you make will be granted. 2. All of; the whole of: She applied whatever strength she had left to the task. 3. Of any kind at all: No campers whatever may use the lake before noon.  

INTERJECTION: Used to indicate indifference to or scorn for something, such as a remark or suggestion: We're having pizza tonight.–Whatever. I don't care.  

USAGE NOTE: Both whatever and what ever may be used in sentences such as Whatever (or What ever) made her say that? Critics have occasionally objected to the one-word form, but many respected writers have used it. The same is true of the forms whoever, whenever, wherever, and however. In adjectival uses, however, only the one-word form is used: Take whatever (not what ever) books you need. •When a clause beginning with whatever is the subject of a sentence, no comma should be used: Whatever you do is right. In most other cases, a comma is needed: Whatever you do, don't burn the toast. •When a noun followed by a restrictive clause is preceded by whichever or whatever, it is regarded as incorrect to introduce the clause with that in formal writing: whatever book that you want to look at; one should write instead Whatever book you want to look at will be sent to your office or Whichever book costs less (not that costs less) is fine with us.  

mariezhu

大家如果还有兴趣，可以到这里看看whatever:

http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/english/wh/whatever.html#ModernQuotes