形式主語it在雅思寫作中的應用
?一、引言?
在看學生的雅思寫作文章過程中,總會看到這樣的文字,“College graduates are difficult to find jobs. ”,“Parents realise the needs of their children is extremely important. ”,“Students cannot focus on their study because of tiredness is a fact. ”, “Clearly, rush ?hours emerges in the early morning as well as early evening which is most busy in a day as a whole in London.” 這幾個句子,雖然長短不一,結(jié)構(gòu)不同,話題各異,但是,學生對形式主語it的駕馭能力的欠缺,是可見一斑的。
二、形式主語
(一)什么是形式主語
作為形式主語的it并無實際語義,是為滿足語法上的需要,避免句子頭重腳輕,它代替的是句子的邏輯主語。
(二)形式主語it所在的句型類別
1、作不定式的形式主語
(1)句型
It is + a pity/a pleasure + to do sth.
It is + wrong/right/wise/cruel/naughty/selfish + of sb. + to do sth.
It is + necessary/hard/important/difficult/possible/common + for sb. + to do sth.
(2)雅思范文寫作實例
A. Beyond this, it is also of paramount importance to use theaters and museums as the “social classroom" of culture and history education.
B. I think it is by no means pointless in any way to try to keep traditions alive with technology (Cambridge;3,;P162,;Task;2)
C. It is difficult to say who has the rightto judge whether children working is “wrong” or “valuable”. (Cambridge;3,;P164,;Task;2)
D. it is important to remember that need to develop skills other than intellectual ones and …(Cambridge;3,;P168,;Task;2)
E. Finally, I think that it is also important to remember that children need to relax as well as work. (Cambridge;3,;P168,;Task;2)
F. Because people interpret happiness for themselves in so many different ways it is difficult to give and definition that is true for everyone.(Cambridge;4,;P165,;Task;2)
G. It is quite common these days for young people in many countries to have a break for studying after graduation from high school.(Cambridge;5,;P165,;Task;2)
H. They may think that it is better to continue in a particular job or to do sth completely different from a university course. (Cambridge;5,;P165,;Task;2)
據(jù)本人統(tǒng)計,劍橋官方的雅思真題(劍3—劍8)幾乎每一篇Task2考官范文中,都有所使用,甚至在有的文章中出現(xiàn)三次之多。
(3)學生寫作實例
實例1
Many people if not most are strong believer in the claim that regard children go to work as completely wrong, while others hold the opposite opinion.
修改建議:it; is; completely; wrong; for; children; to; go; to; work.
實例2:They have to complete their homework conscientiously within limited time and difficult to discover the problems in studies.
修改建議:Thus it is difficult to discover their problems in study.
實例3:College graduates are difficult to find jobs.
修改建議:It is difficult for college graduates to find jobs.
實例4:Parents realise the needs of their children is extremely important.
修改建議:It is extremely important for parents to realise the needs of their children.
It is extremely important that parents realise the needs of their children.
2、作動名詞的形式主語
(1)句型
It is + (no) use/good/useless/a waste of time/energy/efforts + doing sth.
It is + good/useless/hard/foolish/enjoyable/worthwhile + doing sth.
(2)雅思范文寫作實例
A. For instance children usually pay attention to match their clothing and toys in fact it is really worth competing thing that their study is being ignored.
B. Some parents believe that it is no use having second education for their kids.
(3)學生作文實例
實例:Particular countries and individuals deals with environmental issues are no use.
修改建議:It is no use dealing with environmental issues by particular countries and indivuduals.
3、作主語從句的形式主語
(1)句型
It is + (adj) n./(adv.) adj./(adv.)v-ed + that……
It + seems/happens/appears/matters//strikes/occurs(突然想起) + that……
It is + said/reported/believed/(universally/widely) accepted/announced/estimated/acknowledged + that……
It + must be admitted/stressed out + that…/It + cannot be denied + that….../It + can be foreseen + that……
It + goes without saying + that…
(2)雅思范文實例
A. It is an understandable fact that many employers may prefer to use the services of children simply to save money by paying them less than adults and it is this type of exploitation the should be discouraged. (Cambridge;3,;P164,;Task;2)
B. Admittedly, it is common sense that a person without cooperative spirit will be difficult to survive in the modern society.
C. Unfortunately, it is not always the case that new things are promoted because they have good mpacts for the majority of people.(Cambridge;6,;P168,;Task;2)
D. It is clear from the data given that there are some significant differences in spending habits in Europe. (Cambridge;3,;P161,;Task;1)
E. It goes without saying that it pays to keep early hours.
F. Take holding an Olympic games as an example it is no doubt it will take millions of money to build stadiums.
G. A more dramatic rise is predicted between 2030 and 2040 in Japan by which time it is thought that the proportion of elderly people will be similar in the three countries. (Cambridge;5,;P162,;Task;1)
H. It seems that the experiences we have in life are so unpredictable and so powerful that they can boost or overide other influences,…(Cambridge;5,;P169,;Task;2)
(3)學生寫作實例
實例
It is quite obvious/evident/apparent that the quantity of families who tends to go outside and infuse fresh oxygen into their lungs is growing steadily.
實例2
It is universally acknowledged that the bestway to arouse people’s love to our nature who has devoted herself too much to human being’s development while has received barely anything till now is to let them see the beauty of hers by themselves.
這是XVCC23強化班里一位基礎較好的學生的寫作實例,其中的語法、措辭方面的錯誤已經(jīng)進行了修改。
實例3:Clearly rush hours emerges in the early morning as well as (in the) early evening which is most busy/the busiest in a day as a whole in London.
修改建議:這個句子的結(jié)構(gòu)應該是無可厚非的(語法就不說啦),但是,按照雅思評分的標準,句式稍微做一下調(diào)整,會更漂亮:
It is clear that rush hours emerge in the early morning as well as in the early evening which is most ?busy/the; busiest in a day as a whole in London. 或者改成
It is demonstrated that rush hours emerge in the early morning as well as in the early evening which is most busy/the busiest in a day as a whole in London. 這樣一個小小的調(diào)整,其句子修改前后的效果是顯而易見的。
(三)it作形式主語的特征分析
根據(jù)以上對it作形式主語的句型結(jié)構(gòu)的解析,對雅思寫作范文、尤其是官方考官范文的分析,以及對學生寫作過程中出現(xiàn)的it使用狀況的詳細解讀可知:相比較于名詞性從句、定語從句、狀語從句的復雜性和多邊性,it作為形式主語的句式結(jié)構(gòu)可謂簡明扼要,學生掌握起來應該說是得心應手的。
(四)不能正確使用it形式主語的原因
在信息編排時,英語句子遵循“end focus”的原則,即舊信息在前,新信息在后“old information+new information”;但是,當句子主語結(jié)構(gòu)較長,容易使句子產(chǎn)生“head weight”的感覺時,句子結(jié)構(gòu)則遵循“end weight”的原則,即,把較長的主語全部置于句子尾部。前面空掉的主語位置用it來代替,擔當形式主語的功能。
而漢語并不具有這類明顯的特征,學生對英漢兩種語言結(jié)構(gòu)差異知之甚少,或者略有所知,在真正的運用中,也未必能夠正確的體現(xiàn)出來。多數(shù)學生都本著漢語式的思維,一遇到“某人做某事是怎么樣的/是什么”就習慣性地寫成it"
三、總結(jié)
建議學生在雅思學習中,采取步步為營的四步走戰(zhàn)略戰(zhàn)術,循序漸進:首先,記住句型結(jié)構(gòu);其次,模仿寫作;之后,進行獨立創(chuàng)作;最后,形成屬于自己的模板句型。作為雅思寫作學習中可控制的因素,我們可以培養(yǎng)句式運用的習慣,使習慣稱為自然。為了我們雅思的學習這個努力是值得的,it pays in the long run.