名词作前置定语所表示的几种意义

      英语中的名词可以直接用作定语修饰另一个名词，既不需要加形容词词尾，也不需要任何格的变化，这样的定语就是名词定语。

      在现代英语中，名词定语日益增多。作定语的名词往往是说明被修饰名词的地点、时间、目的或用途、种类、原料或来源、内容、功能和手段、所属关系、因果关系，或者是被修饰名词的直接宾语、补语、关系、特征或特点等。作定语用的名词一般没有与之相应的同根形容词。它既可以是有生命的，也可以是无生命的；既可以是可数的，也可以是不可数的。现行中学英语课本中几乎每个单元都会出现名词作前置定语的若干短语和句子，现将其作一归类。

1．说明被修饰名词的地点。例如：

She is sixteen and a middleschoolstudent in Northern China.
His parents were both poormusic hallperformers.
What are the three most important things to pack when you go on abeachvacation?
All street signs, names of cities and places must be written in both languages.
In European countries, people will usually decorate churches and town halls with flowers and fruit.
They were followed in time bylandanimals.

2．说明被修饰名词的时间。例如：
The autumn ploughing should be deeper than thespringploughing.
I had a wonderful surprise birthday lunch.
Christmas Day was a Wednesday this year.    

         

3.   说明被修饰名词的目的或用途。例如：
You should not go rafting unless you know how to swim, and you should always wear alife
jacket.
How are theme parks different from traditiona lamusement parks?
I saw that a little further up the road the traffic lights had turned red.
After some time the two found that theirbusinesscooperation had turned into a personal
one.

4．说明被修饰名词的种类或领域。例如：
The next morning the bushes and maple trees outside their windows were red, gold and arrange.
This produced a chain action, which made it possible for life to develop.
I should phone her from atelephonebooth.
The Dragon BoatFestival in China honours the famous ancient poet, Qu Yuan.
As a young man, he saw the great need for increasing thericeoutput.
Famous country music groups perform there all year indoor and outdoor theaters.

5．说明被修饰名词的原料，材料或来源。例如：
They were in time to produce carbon, nitrogen,watervapour and other gasses.
That necklace you borrowed from me wasn’t a real diamond necklace.
We really shouldn’t use paper napkins, you know.
I’d like a cup of coffee and apineappledessert.

6．说明被修饰名词的内容。例如：
Mydogteam was not with me to pull my sled.
Create aflow chart to make clear which steps and decisions must be taken in a process.
You must pay much more attention to the grammar rules above.

7．说明被修饰名词的功能或手段。例如：
The girls told him they were on a train trip across Canada.
They arrived more than 30,000 years ago by crossing a land bridge from Asia to America.
Most farms were one-family business.
Good communication skills include learning body language.
Just like spoken language, bodylanguage varies from culture to culture.
They sat in abuffetrestaurant looking over the broadSt Lawrence River.

8．说明与被修饰名词的所属关系或整体与部分。例如：
The bison skins were sent by rail to cities to be sold.
With fewer bison, grassroots were not eaten, so grass did not grow as strongly.
Do you, or someone you know, have family members who live outside China?
I floated weightlessly around in ourspaceshipcabin watching the earth become smaller and the moon larger.

9．表示被修饰名词的直接宾语。例如：
This year’smotor show is the biggest ever.
Not only food production is important but also taking care of the environment.
Does knowledge of word formation help you learn and remember new words?
Seeing them racing downhill is one of his bestchildhoodmemories.
The Native Americans made tents and watercontainers from the skins.
Yesterday, another student and I, representing our university’sstudent association, went to the Capital  International Airport to meet this year’s international students.
These chemicals in the food supply build up in people’s bodies over time.
Futuroscope (观测未来主题公园) has many excellent hotels nearby, most of which provide ashuttle service to the park.

10．表示同位关系或被修饰名词的补语。例如：
Wellington, the capital city, lies on the North Island.
One should give children actors plenty of encouragement.
We watch the mother chimp and her babies play in the tree.
They gave birth to youngbabyanimals and produced milk to feed them.

11．表示与被修饰名词的关系、特征或特点。例如：
He was greatly respected by his brother doctors.
Like many of its sister cities in the south, Atlanta was burnt down in the Civil War.
We are said to be living in the “InformationAge”.
Bisonwaste no longer fell to the ground to improve the soil.

参考文献
1.     徐广联《大学英语语法》，华东理工大学出版社，2005年
2.     Hornby, A.S.《牛津高阶英汉双解词典（第四版）》，商务印书馆，牛津大学出版社1997年