PDF《Relative Clauses》

357 ? ? *as was unexpected. which was unexpected. 5.She has married again, *as was disgraceful. which was disgraceful. Quirk,1989 p.1117 Example ? ? ? ? ? ? ? : Zhang (1997) puts it further that the as-clause must be af- firmative while which-clause can be a negative: ? ? which I can'

t bear 6. Mummy treats me just like a baby, *as I can'

t bear. p.1406 Example ? ? ? ? ? So according to such a principle of meaning, the as or which in the following examples can not be replaced by an- other. Example 7. David works hard, as do my brothers (Longman Dictionary, 1978: p. 48). Example 8. He never keeps his promise, which we don'

t like at all (Zhang &

Sun, 2006: p. 340). Example 9. He walks for an hour each morning, which would bore me (Quirk, 1985: p. 1118). Principle of Grammatical Structure 1) If the relative words are used as a predicative or an object in the relative clause, both as and which can be used to introduce a non-restrictive relative clause. Example 10. He wants to be useful, which (or as) he has never been (The antecedent here is useful ) (Zhang &

Wen, 1998: p. 359). Example 11. He is fond of music, which/as I'

m glad to hear (Zhang, 1997: p. 1406) (The relative word here refers to the whole main clause). Example 12. He witnessed a boa, as he had never dreamed of in his childhood (Du, 2002: p. 601) (The antecedent of as is the whole clause he witnessed a boa ). (But if which is used in the example 12, the meaning of the sentence is ambiguous. The sentence He witnessed a boa, which he had never dreamed of in his childhood can mean the same with example

13 that he had never had such a strange dream, but also has the meaning of He witnessed a boa one day but he never had dreamed of a boa before ). 2) When the relative words is used as an subject in the non- restrictive relative clause, and the predicate in the relative clause is a non-transitive verb, be or other copula, both as and which can be used. Otherwise, which is a correct choice. Example 13. The ships were frozen in, as/which not infre- quently happens in those regions (Zhang, 1997: p. 1406). ? ? as was / seemed natural. as was expected. 14. She has married again, *as delighted us. Quirk, 1985: p.

1117 which delighted us. Example ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? *as made me very angry. 15. He changed his mind, which made me very angry. Zhang, 2005: p.

413 Example ? ? ? ? ? Principle of Position As-clause is quite flexible about position, at the beginning, in the middle or in the end of a sentence, while the which-clause is usually in the end of a sentence. The followings are more ex- amples bedside the previous ones. ? ? As was natural, he married her. 16. *Which was natural, he married her. Zhang,

1997 : p.

1407 Example ? ? ? ? ? Example 17. As *Which ? ? ? is known to the world, Mark Twain is a great writer (Zhang, 2005: p. 414). But when the antecedent of which is one word in the main clause, the position of which depends on the position of the antecedent. And when which refers to a clause, which-clause can be in the middle of a sentence functioned as a parenthesis. Example 18. His speech, which bored everyone, went on and on (Zhang, 1997: p. 1385). Example 19. They were, which/as was a great honour to them, invited to the wedding ceremony (Du, 2002: p. 579). Special Usage of Which Which can be used after a preposition to be an object and before a noun to be a determiner, while as can not. Example 20. There are many books, some of which are Mal- colm'

s (Wang, 2005: p. 665). Example 21. He is old, which fact is important (Zhang, 1997: p. 1405). Example 22. He may come, in which case I'