了解这个语法结构，写出漂亮的句子

关于英文写作的句子层面，我在掌握基本套路，先写出一个正确的句子中和大家分享了句子的基本结构，在昨天的文章试试这四招，告别“小学一年级作文水平”中和大家分享了如何把句子写长。今天和大家分享一个进阶的玩法：独立结构。

先声明一点：写作最重要的是说清楚，而语法的作用是帮助我们在想清楚的情况下说清楚，在说清楚的情况下利用句式的变化和修辞手法让我们的表达更有效。切记不要“炫技”，为了用词而用词，为了展示自己好写出山路十八弯的句子。

今天和大家分享“独立结构”的语法知识主要是帮助我们读懂文章，自己写的时候可以意识到“诶，还可以用这种结构呢！”就好了。

在赏析一篇《新概念英语》的文章中我提出了一个问题：

In the nineteen century, a novelist would bring his story to a conclusion by presenting his readers with a series of coincidences -- most of them wildly improbable.

这段话中most of them wildly improbable中为什么没有谓语动词？

《新概念英语》常见问题详解词典中这样解释：“...它是一个正确的格式 -- 独立结构（Absolute Construction)，它可以理解为most of them being wildly impropable的省略缩写。独立结构的语法功能通常是充当句子的状语。其特征是：有自己的逻辑主语并且和句子的主语不一致。”

为什么叫“独立结构”呢？“独立”是说它有自己的主语; “结构”是说它并不是一个完整的句子，它没有谓语动词。

它的基本结构是：名词+分词+其它

Noun ➕ Participle ➕ Optional Modifier(s) and/or Object(s)

http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/absolutephrase.htm

8.17日的《经济学人》中国版块中有这样一篇文章，我们来看一下它的第一段：

原文地址：https://www.economist.com/news/china/21726748-and-glossing-over-its-own-history-mauling-chinese-culture-communist-party-redefining

CHILDREN sit with straight backs chanting in loud voices from the Dizi Gui, a classic Chinese text about obedience. At the end of class they bow low to an image of Confucius, hands clasped as if in prayer. A statue of the ancient sage watches over the playground, too: “Study the Dizi Gui, be a good Chinese,” reads a red banner. At the Zhengde summer camp in Jinan, in the eastern province of Shandong, children as young as five spend their day reciting verses, learning tai chi and watching cartoons with moral messages. Phones are banned “to prevent contamination of the mind”, says Yi Shugui, the headmaster, a former management consultant. At similar summer schools across China children learn calligraphy, traditional Chinese crafts and how to play ancient instruments. China is undergoing a cultural renaissance, much of it government-sponsored.

这一段中就出现了两个独立结构：

• At the end of class they bow low to an image of Confucius, hands clasped as if in prayer.

相比中文来说，英语更讲究句子的主次之分。一段话中只能有一个主干来表达主要意思，其它的部分都是用来修饰的绿叶。这句话中主要说的就是“They bow low to an image of Confucius.” 那具体是如何鞠躬的呢？hands clasped，双手紧扣。

我是怎么知道这里的clasped并不是谓语动词呢？因为如果clasped是谓语动词的话这段话就是个错句了: 不能只用逗号来连接两个完整的句子❌。

• China is undergoing a cultural renaissance, much of it government-sponsored.

这样的句型非常常见，上次和大家分享过一个类似的：Weibo, China’s Twitter, lit up with millions of reactions, most of them positive. 

相比写成"China is undergoing a cultural renaissance, and much of it are government-sponsored"，用独立结构让行文更加简洁、连贯。 

在我另一个公众号“天天用英文”中我提出了一个问题：下面这个句子是一道GMAT语法题，划线部分正确吗？如果不正确的话应该怎么改呢？

Having the right hand and arm being crippled by a sniper's bullet during the First World War, Horace Pippin, a Black American painter, worked by holding the brush in his right hand and guiding its movements with his left.

划线部分不对。如果这样写的话，作者是用了一个分词结构，having the right hand and arm bing .... 的主语是Horace Pippin -- 他使他的手臂致残？显然在这里是说不通的。

为了改正这个句子我们可以利用独立结构来“自立门户”，例如改成这样：

His right hand and arm（主语） crippled （分词）by a sniper's bullet during the First World War（其它）, Horace Pippin, a Black American painter, worked by holding the brush in his right hand and guiding its movements with his left.

语法不是用来学的，是用来用的。怎么用？去阅读，在阅读中用学过的语法知识来分析或赏析句子。例如我最近在读E.B. White的随笔集，在Good-bye to Forty-eighth Street中他写到：

On one of the morings of disposal, a man from a second-hand bookstore visited us, bought several hundred books, and told us of the death of his brother, the word "cancer" exploding in the living room like a time bomb detonated by his grief.

看到这里我就知道：嘿！又见到这种用法了。

我们觉得奇怪，就是因为见的少，见多了就不奇怪了。不信的话，你今天开始每天读点外刊或者原版书，你一定能碰到几个独立结构的。积累多了，我们就能从“学语法”变成“赏析句子”，然后离自己写出简洁漂亮的句子就又近了一步。