四、系表结构中形容词后的宾语

afraid, glad, sorry, sure, worth等形容词与系动词 be, seem等一起构成的系表结构后可以带一个宾语。现分叙如下:

1. be afraid to do sth.表示“不敢干某事”, 而be afraid of sth. (doing sth.) 则表示“害怕 (干)某事”，如:

She is afraid to go out alone at night. (她不敢夜晚独自出门.)

Are you afraid of snakes? (你害怕蛇吗?)

试比较下列两个句子:

She was afraid to wake her husband.

She was afraid of waking her husband.

第一句意思是“她不敢吵醒她的丈夫.”怕她丈夫可能由此而生气。第二句的意思是“她怕吵醒了她的丈夫。”可能因为她丈夫生病了或需要睡眠。

be afraid + that-clause表示一种委婉的客套话, that可以省略。如:

I am afraid (that) I can’t go with you.

2. be glad后可接of, 不定式或that-clause. 如:

I am glad of your success.

I am glad to meet you.

I am glad that you have passed the examination.

3. be sorry可接about或for, 也可按不定式或that-clause. 如:

Aren't you sorry about (for) what you've done?

I’m sorry for you.

We're sorry to hear that.

4. be sure可接of或about,也可接不定式或that-clause。如:

We're sure of a warm welcome.

I was not sure about two things — the grammar and some of the idioms.

Are you sure that he is honest?

5. worth, worth while和worthy

be worth表示“价值”时, 可直接接名词。如:

The used car is worth $300 at most.

还可接动名词的一般式, 主语为动名词的逻辑宾语。如:

This book is worth reading.

在It is worth while这一结构中, it为形式主语,后面可用动名词, 也可用动词不定式:

It is worth while visiting the place.

It is worth while to visit the place. (= The place is worth visiting.)

形容词worthy可作定语, 修饰名词。 如a worthy team 1eader. 它与of连用可作后置定语。如:

an enemy worthy of his sword (剑); a cause worthy of support

作表语时, of后可接名词。如:

This place is worthy of a visit. 也可接动名词, 常用其被动式。如:

This place is worthy of being visited. (=This place is worth visiting.)

如不与of连用, 则可接动词不定式的被动式。如:

This book is worthy to be read. ( = The book is worth reading.)

五、形容词、副词前定冠词的用法

说明：在形容词、副词的比较级和最高级中，我们所谈到的所谓的冠词 “the” 严格地说, 应该是副词，但出于习惯或者是为了使语法术语简单化，这里我们姑且仍将其称为冠词。

1. 形容词最高级前一般要加定冠词, 副词最高级前可加可不加定冠词。

2. 形容词最高级前有时加不定冠词或不加冠词, 表示“非常”。如:

This is a most interesting story.

但如果这个名词短语后面带有一个表示范围的短语或从句, 则要用定冠词。即:

This is the most interesting story in this book (I've ever heard).

3. 表示两者间“较…的一个”时, 形容比较级前需加定冠词。如:

Which is the better of the two pianos?

Who is the elder of the two brothers?

4. 一般说来, 在same之前要加定冠词。如:

They are exactly the same.

We are of the same age.

又如在短语中: all the same, at the same time等。

5. 在the + 比较级…the + 比较级…表示“越…就越…”这个结构中, 不管是形容词还是副词都必须加定冠词。如:

The nearer an object is to us, the bigger it looks.

The more they talked, the more excited they were.

6. 在某些形容词前加上定冠词, 则表示同类人。如: the rich(富人),the poor (穷人), the young (年轻人), the blind (盲人), the wounded (伤员), the dead (死去的人)，当它们作句子的主语时谓语动词通常用单数形式;但若是指一个人或抽象事物的形容词则常用单数形式。

Generally, the rich is cruel to the poor.

The dead is his father.

The new is sure to take the place of the old.