VOA日常语法2023--Grammar and Cars

Grammar and Cars

Imagine you are in a car. Perhaps another person is driving. What kinds of sentences are you likely to hear or use?

In today's Everyday Grammar, we will show you how cars can teach you about English grammar. You will learn about common sentence structures¹ that are used while driving. We will also make some car comparisons² to help you remember grammar points.

Let's start with a few important ideas about sentences.

Ideas

A car is a vehicle³ for getting people or goods across an area.

We can think of a sentence as a vehicle for getting information across to other people.

Just as there are different kinds of cars – vans, trucks, sports cars, and so on – there are also different kinds of sentences.

Some sentences might be used for special purposes - just as a car might be used for a special purpose.

We will now consider two sentence types that are commonly used while driving in cars: imperative⁴ sentences and exclamatory sentences.

Imperatives⁵

A quick reminder⁶ about sentences. Complete sentences involve a subject and a predicate.

But some kinds of sentences only suggest the subject.

One example is the imperative sentence, commonly used to give driving instructions or directions.

The imperative sentence generally only consists of a predicate. The predicate often has the base form of the verb⁷ as well as additional⁸ information.

Let's imagine that you are riding in a car. You are in the passenger seat, and someone else is driving.

Person 1: Which way should I turn?

Person 2: Turn left at the stop sign.

Here, we have the imperative "turn left at the stop sign." The sentence involves the base form of the verb "turn" along with the direction "left." We also have the phrase⁹ "at the stop sign."

We use imperatives to give all kinds of instructions when riding in a car. For example, you might say "start the car," "park the car," "speed up," "slow down," "put on the parking¹⁰ brake," and so on.

Exclamatory sentences

Now, let's turn our attention to a second kind of sentence you are likely to hear or use when driving: exclamatory sentences.

Grammar books describe exclamatory sentences in terms of emotion and in terms of word order. Let's explore both of these in turn.

The first way we describe exclamatory sentences is in terms of emotion. In other words, exclamatory sentences can be any kind of sentence that is spoken with more emotion. And when we are driving, that emotion is often – but not always – negative.

For example:

"I can't believe he cut me off!"

The second kind of exclamatory sentence involves a change of word order. We often use "what" or "how" in these kinds of statements¹¹. We also often leave out the verb.

Imagine you are on a peaceful drive on a beautiful fall day. The trees are red, orange, and yellow. You might say,

"What a lovely day! "

Now imagine you are stuck in heavy traffic. A person speeds up and cuts in front of you. You might say in a negative tone¹²:

"What a piece of work!"

Or something like this:

"What the -----!"

This kind of exclamatory sentence is not polite, and we do not suggest using it. But you might hear it or something like it in a film or in real life.

Putting it together

We have explored two kinds of sentences: imperative sentences and exclamatory sentences.

You might compare imperative sentences to race cars. Race cars are about speed and quickness. So they might not have some parts that weigh them down.

Similarly¹³, imperatives are about speed and quickness in communication. Imperatives are reduced to simple elements¹⁴ – the predicate with the base form of the verb.

We also explored two kinds of exclamatory statements. Exclamatory sentences suggest colorful emotions. We might compare exclamatory statements to colorful cars – bright yellow, deep orange, brilliant red.

Of course, none of these comparisons are perfect. But they can give you a general way to remember ideas about different kinds of sentences.

Words in This Story

imperative – n. the form that a verb or sentence has when it is expressing a command

exclamatory – adj. describes a word, phrase, or sound that expresses a strong emotion

predicate – n. the part of a sentence that expresses what is said about the subject

phrase – n. a group of two or more words that express a single idea but do not usually form a complete sentence

negative – adj. harmful or bad : not wanted

1 structures   

n.结构( structure的名词复数 )；[生物学]构造；机构；构造物v.组织( structure的第三人称单数 )；安排；制定

参考例句：

• All three structures dated to the third century and were tentatively identified as shrines. 这3座建筑都建于3 世纪，并且初步鉴定为神庙。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Flexibility of labour was obtained through the breakup of old trade union structures. 打破了旧的工会结构之后，雇用劳工可以灵活处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 comparisons   

比较( comparison的名词复数 )； [修辞学]比喻； [语法学]（形容词或副词的）比较等级； 类似

参考例句：

• I. Comparisons to a Living Creature (i. e., the Sphinx riddle) 1．比作某种生物（如斯芬克司谜） 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗
• Make comparisons about the products. 对产品做对比。 来自超越目标英语 第4册

3 vehicle   

n.车辆，交通工具，运载工具；媒介，表现手段

参考例句：

• Air is the vehicle of sound.空气是声音传播的媒介。
• The power plant burns used vehicle tyres as fuel.这家电厂用废弃轮胎作燃料。

4 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

5 imperatives   

n.必要的事( imperative的名词复数 )；祈使语气；必须履行的责任

参考例句：

• Nixon, however, had other imperatives. 但尼克松另有需要。 来自辞典例句
• There could be some cultural imperatives in there somewhere! 在公共传播那里，在某些方面，可能有更迫切的文化需要！ 来自互联网

6 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

7 verb   

n.[语]动词

参考例句：

• The sentence is formed from a verb and two nouns.这句子由一个动词和两个名词构成。
• These are the finite forms of a verb.这些是一个动词的限定形式。

8 additional   

adj.添加的，额外的，另外的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to set down these additional rules.有必要制定这些补充规则。
• I think we can fit in an additional room.我想我们可以再加建一间房子。

9 phrase   

n.短语，词组；成语，习语

参考例句：

• The phrase was caught on and immediately became popular.这个短语被采用后很快就流行了。
• That's exactly the phrase I was looking for.这就是我一直找的那个短语。

10 parking   

n.停车，停机，停放

参考例句：

• A bus is parking on the road.路上停着一辆公共汽车。
• Next you must learn how to back a car into a parking space.下一步你应该学会如何把车倒入停车的空地。

11 statements   

n.声明( statement的名词复数 )；（思想、观点、文章主题等的）表现；（文字）陈述；结算单

参考例句：

• We are faced with two apparently contradictory statements. 我们面前这两种说法显然是矛盾的。
• The report is inconsistent with the financial statements. 这个报告与财务报表内容不一致。

12 tone   

n.语气，音调，气度，色调；vt.（up）增强

参考例句：

• There was a tone of mockery in his voice.他说话的语气含有嘲笑的意味。
• Holmes used an informal,chatty tone in his essays.霍姆斯在文章中语气轻松随便。

13 similarly   

adv.类似地，相似地

参考例句：

• He was late and I similarly was delayed.他迟到了，我也晚了。
• These two pages are similarly glued together.这两页好像粘在一起了。

14 elements   

原理，基础； 要素（旧时认为土、空气、火和水是构成一切物质的四大要素）( element的名词复数 )； （化学）元素； 基础； 成分

参考例句：

• Oxygen is one of the basic elements of substance. 氧是物质的基本元素之一。
• A language teacher should initiate pupils into the elements of grammar. 语言老师应该把基本语法教给学生。