現代英文中的「倒裝(inversion)」#8(最終篇) 直接引述倒裝(「主語--整個限定動詞」倒裝的一種)

 


整個系列,我們研究了現代英文為何會出現倒裝、它的結構是甚麼,以及觸發或要求使用倒裝的各種情景。


來到最後一篇,我會講解觸發第二種結構類型的倒裝,即「subject–whole verb (主詞--整個限定動詞)」對換位置的最後一種情景 – 書寫時的直接引述。


這種情景你大概也很熟悉,或者從前就已經學過了。


書面敘事時,當有直接引述的部分被移動到它的子句(或外層子句)開頭,「subject–whole verb」的倒裝便會被觸發 ,但這在結構上並非必需的。


例如:


“I will be late,” said he.

(他說他會遲到)


句子原來的詞序應是:


He said(,) “I will be late.”


我們無須詳細討論子句的結構(如果你上過我的基礎課程,當然可以自行簡單分析一下),也應該能清楚理解到「he said」中的限定動詞「said」,是引出「I will be late」這句的動詞。


在自然詞序中,「he said」會出現在引述句之前(而我們通常在書寫時使用引號來表示)。*


引述的部分被移前後,比較自然的詞序仍然是「正常」的「he said」:


“I will be late,” he said

因為這種移動可以被當成是一般「主題化」地處理,詞序也是正常的。例如:


He left after the meal. → After the meal, he left.

He said(,) “I will be late” → “I will be late,” he said.


即使我們將直接引述移至引出它的句子前面,詞序正常也不會變,就像這裡的「he said」一樣。


書寫時,我們把原本不在開頭的引述部分移前後,會習慣性地在它後面加上逗號,因為標點符號有助於在文字中更清楚地顯示句子的文法結構。


單看這分隔引述句和主語的逗號,我們便能明確知道句子在詞序上有過移動:


“I will be late,” he said. 


現在,我們可以討論一下倒裝的部分。


無論動機是甚麼,我們若在書寫時把引述句前置,都可以選擇是否同時將主語跟帶出引述句的那個限定動詞換位。


例如:


“I will be late,” said he.


結構上,這屬於「subject–whole verb」的倒裝,即交換主語和限定動詞本身的位置,而不僅僅是輔助動詞的位置。但實際上若出現這類倒裝,該限定動詞都只會是單字(即簡單過去式或簡單現在式字形),因此我們只要將那單字限定動詞與主語對調就好。


最近,有學生向我詢問一個從故事書中看到的句子:


“I will be late,” said he, “so don’t wait for me.” 

(他說他會遲到,所以不用等他)


她問是不是如果是被夾在引述部分的「中間」,我們便要使用像「said he」這樣的倒裝詞序。


相信大家也能看出,這句子原本的詞序應該是:


He said, “I will be late, so don’t wait for me.” 


作者為了某種效果而把引述部分分成兩段,並將第一部分「I will be late」移至「he said」前面:


“I will be late,” he said, “so don’t wait for me.”


這情況並不需要使用倒裝,反而寫「he said」還更自然一點。


然而,作者可以選擇是否使用這種倒裝來表達,畢竟確實有部分的引途句是被前置了:


“I will be late,” said he, “so don’t wait for me.”**


這種情景觸發的倒裝,仍經常出現在書面敍述上,目的通常是營造不同的語氣、風格、或發揮強調作用等。


但請注意,正如我們討論過的任何場景,倒裝法在現代英文中是「化石」。如果想用倒裝方式來表達,請先確定最終呈現的語氣或風格真是你所需要的。***

______________________________

補充資料:


*

He said(,) “I will be late.”


我將「He said」後的逗號放進括號中,因為關於是否要使用這個逗號,並沒有到很嚴格的約定俗成標準。使用它也不是出於結構上的原因,因為句子是按自然詞序排列的,引述句也自然地出現在引出它的動詞後面,所以不加也不會誤會句子結構。


當然我們還是可以加入逗號去製造一個小停頓,只要這是我們想要呈現的語氣或風格。別忘了標點符號是「人造」的,且只會用於書寫上,因此我們談論它時,只會說使用上的「用法習慣」,而非「文法結構」。我們會遵循一些約定的標點使用習慣,使句子的實際文法結構更清晰。但很多情況下,我們都有相當的自由度去使用標點符號,以便呈現不同的寫作語氣和風格。


**


不少學生對直接引敍句的標點使用有疑問。我在正文中也解釋了,如果引敍句被前置,我們一般習慣在其後加一個逗號 — 正如我們處理所有主題化的前置元素一樣。即使倒裝了,我們仍然習慣在動詞前加入逗號:


“I will be late,” said he. 


如果「said he」之後還有更多引敍部分,學生又會問及「其餘」的標點,像是:


“I will be late,” said he, “so don’t wait for me.”


這種情況,我們只會把引敍部分視為普通句子,並遵循一般的標點使用習慣。例如「so don't wait for me」是一個由對等連接詞「so」連繫的完整子句,習慣是會將逗號加在連接詞的前面。


假如下一句是另一組獨立句子,根據正常的標點使用習慣,我們會先以句號終結前一句。例如:


“I will be late,” said he. “Don’t wait for me.” 


***


實際上,以下兩種寫法都是可以互換的:


“I will be late,” he said.

“I will be late,” said he. 


「said he」 固然比較有「風格感」,但要記得,倒裝對現代英文文法而言並不自然,因此只以正常詞序來寫作也是完全沒問題的。尤其當你不確定倒裝後所呈現的語氣和風格如何,不使用倒裝反而更加穩妥。


__________________________


“Inversion” in Modern English #8 (Last Instalment!):

Direct quotes (a type of “subject-whole verb” inversion)


Throughout this series, we looked at why inversion takes place in modern English, what it is structurally, and the various scenarios in which its two types are triggered and/or required.


In this last instalment, I will explain the last scenario in which the second structural type of inversion–“subject–whole verb” inversion–is triggered: direct quotes in written narratives. 


You are probably already familiar with this scenario or have learned about it before. 


Whenever a direct quote is moved to the beginning of its clause (or its outer clause) in a written narrative, “subject-whole verb” inversion can take place – but it is not required structurally.


For example:


“I will be late,” said he.

(他說他會遲到)


The original word order of this sentence, including the quote, is of course:


He said(,) “I will be late.”


We don’t need to go into detail about the clause structure here (if you have taken my foundational course, you can analyze it simply by yourself), but it should be clear to you either way that the finite verb “said” in “he said” is the verb that introduces the quote “I will be late.”


In the natural word order, “he said” comes before the quote (which we would usually use quotation marks to indicate in writing).*


When this quote is moved to the front, the more natural word order is still “he said”’: 


“I will be late,” he said


This is because we would treat the quote as a topicalized element in normal word order, like:


He left after the meal. → After the meal, he left.

He said(,) “I will be late” → “I will be late,” he said.


It is the same even when we move a direct quote to the front of the part of the sentence that introduced it, like the “he said” here.


When we move a quote (or any element) that is originally not in front to the front, we usually add a comma in writing after the moved part. Remember that punctuation conventions help to show the actual grammatical structure of sentences more clearly.


Here, a comma between the topicalized quote and the subject of the clause that introduced it indicates clearly that there has been this type of movement in the word order:


“I will be late,” he said. 


Now, we can finally get to the inversion part.


For whatever reason, when we topicalize a direct quote to the front in a written narrative, we have the “option” of inverting the subject and finite verb of the clause that introduces this quote.


For example:


“I will be late,” said he.


Structurally, this is “subject–whole finite verb” inversion – as in, we switch the positions of the subject and the finite verb itself, not just of the auxiliary verb. In practice, when this type of inversion takes place, the finite verb is always a single word (i.e. either in simple past or simple present form), so we just switch this single-word finite verb with the subject.


A student recently asked me about something like this, which she saw in a fiction book:


“I will be late,” said he, “so don’t wait for me.” 

(他說他會遲到,所以不用等他)


The way she phrased it was whether we need to have this inverted word order of “said he” when it is “in the middle” of direct quotes.


As we can see from this newsletter, it is not that the “said he” is “in the middle” of the two direct quotes. It is that the original word order is:


He said, “I will be late, so don’t wait for me.” 


The writer decided to break up the quote for effect, moving the first clause in the quote, “I will be late,” to the front of “he said”:


“I will be late,” he said, “so don’t wait for me.”


There does not need to be inversion, as we have seen above. It would naturally be “he said.”


However, there is the option of this type of inversion since part of the quote is topicalized, so:


“I will be late,” said he, “so don’t wait for me.”**


This scenario for inversion is still seen quite often in written narratives, for different reasons of tone, style, emphasis, or even variety.


However, note that, as with any of the scenarios we went through in which inversion is an “option” but not required in modern English, you should just use it if you are certain that the resulting tone or style that you express is what you are aiming for.***


______________________________


Further notes:


*

He said(,) “I will be late.”


I put the comma after “he said” in brackets here because there is no strong punctuation convention for whether this comma needs to be used or not. There is no structural reason to use it here since the sentence is in the natural order, and the quote comes naturally after the verb that introduces it.


We can of course still use it for a “pause” in the narrative, if that is our intention for the tone and style. Remember that punctuation is “man-made” because it is only used in written language, so we are only talking about “usage conventions” and not “grammar” when we talk about punctuation. We follow certain conventions for punctuation use to show the actual grammatical structure of sentences more clearly, but there are a lot of scenarios in which we can use punctuation differently to achieve different tones and styles in writing as well.


**


Many students have questions about the punctuation conventions around direct quotes as well. Well, the normal convention, like I mentioned in the main text, is to add a comma after the quote if it is topicalized – this is what we do with any topicalized element. Even when there is inversion, we still add a comma in front of the verb:


“I will be late,” said he. 


Now, students usually ask about punctuation for the “rest” of the quotes if there are more quotes after this “said he,” like:


“I will be late,” said he, “so don’t wait for me.”


In these cases, we would just treat these quotes as normal sentences and follow normal punctuation conventions. For example, the part “so don’t wait for me” is a separate clause that is linked by the coordinating conjunction “so.” The punctuation convention is usually to add a comma in front of this conjunction, so adding it here is also natural.


If the next quote is another separate sentence, for example, we would just start it anew after a period/full stop, according to normal punctuation convention. For example:


“I will be late,” said he. “Don’t wait for me.” 


***


In practice, these two variations, with and without inversion, are pretty interchangeable:


“I will be late,” he said.

“I will be late,” said he. 


Using “said he” creates a slightly more “stylized” feel – but always remember that inversion is the “unnatural” thing in modern English grammar, and, so, sticking to the normal word order without the inversion is always fine (and probably preferable if you are unsure what the inversion would “sound” like in tone and style). 


Comments

Popular Posts

及物與不及物動詞對:「Lay」vs.「Lie」(+其他例子)

有被動語態的動名詞組(Gerund Phrases): 「Being Chosen for a Flight Mission」 ✈️

比利時巧克力 - 「Belgian」Chocolate 🍫

2025 New Year's Resolutions?

你有「完善的計劃」(“Robust” Plan)來學習英文嗎?

No Doubt… 不容置疑(?)