Who can tell me about adverbials, attributives, predicatives, synonymous predicates, and complements. . What exactly does it mean?

Methods for learning English

The world-famous English language expert L.G. Alexander has opened a troubleshooting column in "21st Century News". I was once asked this question: What is the difference between attributive clauses and appositive clauses? He immediately replied: "Knowing this difference cannot improve your English. At most, it can only increase your knowledge about English." After giving a brief example, he even concluded: "It can be seen from the above that there is no difference in English." There is no 'attributive clause', at least I don't know about it." This question and answer seems to give us a hint.

Language has two systems: expression form and expression function. Whether the two systems are "divided into two" or "combined into one" directly affects the learning of the language itself. Take English as an example. When children learn to speak, they only seek to express ideas and neglect form. They are full of mistakes, which often astonishes outsiders. Such as: I done it (I did it), She no sleeping (she is not s1eeping), Nobody don't like me (Nobody like me), etc., they are everywhere. Usually you have to go to school and receive formal education to correct them one by one. As for the illiterate, most of them have "no regrets for life". When it is used as a foreign language, this sequence is exactly the opposite, that is, the learner already has the expressive function, and what is missing is just another set of expression forms. When the two are relatively independent, learners can temporarily get rid of the "entanglement" of functions and concentrate on form. First, they can understand the basic rules and syntactic structures of sister words one by one, and then they can draw inferences by analogy and apply them to other countries. This is the main reason why English is easier to learn than Chinese. Especially in the introductory stage, it can be said that the progress is rapid and rapid. Chinese people have really picked up a great opportunity to learn English.

But as the saying goes, "Smartness leads to mistakes", it is precisely the orderliness and clarity of English grammar that brings too much sense of reward. On the contrary, it makes people more satisfied, makes people suffer, and makes it easier to learn. It gives people the illusion that as long as they follow this path, tell the facts clearly and make the truth clear, they can quickly learn English. But I didn't expect that this was only half of the task, or even just a small half. Foreign languages ??are often compared to playing the piano and playing ball, which makes sense. It's one thing to know how to play a piece of music, but it's another thing to be able to play it fluently. The former mainly involves memorizing music and noting fingerings, which can be done in a few minutes; the latter involves ten days and a half of repeated hard practice. Many people can’t figure out why they have memorized many rules and memorized a lot of words when learning a foreign language, but don’t know how to use them? In fact, this principle is the same as simply completing a course in "Exercise Physiology" is not enough to become an athlete. It is not surprising at all.

Looking at foreigners learning Chinese, one can’t help but feel that “a blessing in disguise is a blessing in disguise.” Precisely because form is deeply hidden in function, precisely because there is no reason to explain and no shortcut to take, they simply gave up on this idea. They only need to ask: "How do you pronounce this sentence in Chinese?" It is enough. The rest is to repeat what he says and practice it over and over until you are familiar with it and follow it, without ever asking "why"? On the surface, it seems that the form and function are carried on one shoulder. It is indeed a heavy burden and difficult to walk, making it difficult to walk quickly. , The Chinese people who go away like a bird look down upon him. Unexpectedly, it is precisely this snail-like "take one step at a time" that can be said to be steady step by step and no false moves. They combined what they learned with what they learned and used it while learning, and they quickly experienced the benefits of applying what they had learned.

In short, Chinese people learn foreign languages ??as knowledge, while foreigners only use them as tools. Of course, learning is not something that can be achieved overnight. It takes ten years to sharpen a sword. Being a tool is like waiting for the rice to be put into the pot. You need to see results in three months. Scholarship pays attention to understanding the truth and principles, and advocates "knowing why it is so"; when used as a tool, one does not seek a deep explanation and is satisfied with "not knowing why it is so". If foreigners are not just "talking", they should read a few Chinese grammar books and find a few sentences, such as "the stage is empty", "one pot of rice can eat eight people", "he and I have been talking about it for most of the day" "If you analyze the subject, predicate and object complement, you are very likely to win the reputation of "Sinologist". Unfortunately, few people are willing to make this effort; on the contrary, almost all Chinese people can be called "English experts". Their English grammar Their knowledge is astonishing to today's British and Americans, and the questions they ask even make the world's leading language experts stunned.

It is a pity that society cannot accommodate so many "theoretical talents"; but at this critical moment, among the piles of undergraduates, graduate students, doctoral students, and postdocs, there are not even one or two practical talents who can serve as interpreters!

"The Diary of Duke Wengwen Gong" once recorded: "I went to the Prime Minister's Yamen, and all the officials gathered. At the beginning of the year, people from all over the world came to pay New Year's greetings. I avoided the west table and looked at the middle table from a distance. There were about 20 people, Zeng Hou and Zuo Yi. The "Zenghou" is Zeng Jize, the son of Zeng Guofan, who can deal with "all countries" and "chirp endlessly", so he must be so skilled in "Yi language" that there is nothing to say. . If many foreign language learners today can reach his level, they will probably be able to say that "this life is enough." Unexpectedly, his former English teacher, American Ding Chaoliang (W.A.P. Martin), commented on him: " Fluent but ungrammatical. "This has to make people think twice. Let me ask: If Zeng Hou takes part in today's standardized test of making a circle, or if the best person in the examination room is put into his various practical situations, what will be the result? ?

Of course, there are difficulties in placing emphasis on function and form in foreign language examinations. The economy is underdeveloped and higher education is not popular. In order to ensure fair competition, everyone is admitted based on their scores. To achieve equality, we can only give up functions that cannot be objectively evaluated and resort to forms that can be accurately scored. This is obviously an impossible method. Although the college entrance examination has successfully completed the predetermined selection task, it has this "hand". The price paid for "losing pawns and saving cars" is too heavy. The "pawns" who failed were like spending money to attend a "driving training class" without even touching the steering wheel and saying, "This is not the material." ", and then sent them away. However, after returning, can they get a job as a driver just by relying on the engine principle? Looking back at the few lucky ones, now they can finally learn to drive happily. ! But wait! There is still a Level 4 unified examination waiting for them! In other words, after finally struggling through the first round of selection, they will immediately have to repeat the experience before the college entrance examination at a higher level. Everything. The steering wheel is still out of reach. The function is still deeply buried under the form.

If the college entrance examination is a last resort to solve the problem of "too many monks and too few people," then let's ask, it does not bear any responsibility. What is the point of the CET-4 unified examination that clearly clarifies the selection tasks and is not conducive to the cultivation of practical abilities? Some people once praised the CET-4 unified examination as the "little TOEFL", thinking that once it gets the shadow of the "foreign moon", it will gain the upper hand. Sufficient reason for existence. As everyone knows, it is this kind of "foreign stereotypes" that does not require speaking or writing, which dismembers flesh-and-blood, living language into pieces that have no connection with each other and do not exist in real life. The "testable factors" have greatly stimulated the vicious development of exam-oriented education and led to the global degradation of language.

According to Maley, an Englishman. Based on his personal experience, Professor Hua once made the following poignant comments: “Foreign teachers deeply admire the diligence of Chinese students in both classroom and extracurricular learning. However, every thought and study often regards language itself as an end and pursues its knowledge, but ignores its role as a tool and downplays its ability, which makes people sigh. They worked extremely hard in drilling holes, but unfortunately the place where they drilled holes was often not the right place. ”

There is only one point that needs to be corrected, that is: Chinese people are not as good as foreigners in learning foreign languages. This only refers to students in school. And for a working person, if he learns foreign languages ????out of work needs or purely as a hobby, If he learns a foreign language, his achievements will never be lower than those of foreigners. The reason is simple: he will not take any standardized tests.