nearly 用法1
問：New Concept English, Book 2, L.52 有一道練習題:
I (near) (nearly) missed the bus this morning.
答案為nearly 。但我搞不清楚句子的真正意義: 到底是“沒趕上公共汽車”, 還是“趕上了公共汽車”呢?
答：如同almost 一樣, nearly 放在動詞前時表示眼看就要發生而實際上並未發生的事。也就是說, nearly 實質上是對動詞的否定, 儘管是輕微的否定。
- He was nearly run over by a car.
他差點兒被一輛汽車壓過去。(實際上他未被壓著) - The ball struck him so hard that he nearly fell into the water.
球重重地擊在他身上, 他差點兒掉進河裡去。(實際上他未掉進河裡去) - I nearly fell off my bike.
我差點兒(沒) 從自行車上摔下來。 - I nearly stopped and asked what he wanted.
我差點兒停下來問他有什麼事。
nearly 用法2
問：“Do you like those kinds of cigarette?”“_________ cigarette agrees with me.”
A. Hardly no
B. Nearly no
C. Rarely no
D. Almost none
(《新編大學英語四· 六級常考詞題庫》, 中國廣播電視出版社, 1996, p.408 nearly 條)
該書給的答案為B(Nearly no) 。請問nearly 能與否定詞連用嗎?
答：這道試題本身是錯誤的。nearly 在用法上有一個明顯的特點, 就是它不能與否定詞連用。CGEL 對此說得很清楚:
“Both the downtoners almost and practically can intensify all indefinite pronouns, whereas nearly can intensify only assertive pronouns. Compare:
Almost / Practically / Nearly –> everybody / all –> came.
Almost / Practically / Nearly –> nobody came. / any time will do. / no compensation was given.”
(CGEL, p.450)
(“almost 和practically 這兩個減弱語可以減弱所有的不定代名詞的語意, 而nearly 則只能減弱斷定代名詞的語意。請比較:
⋯⋯”)
不難看出, 答案B(Nearly no) 是錯誤的。能否選D(Almost none) 呢? 也不能! 因為none 不能用作形容詞來修飾名詞(cigarette) 。(參見no/ none)
nearly / near to
問：For near to three hours we waited for the decision, only to be told to return the next day.
near to 可以作“接近”解, 為什麼用在這裡是錯誤的呢?
答：near to 可表示“位置”或“空間”上的接近, 不能表示數值上的接近。應改為nearly。
not nearly
問：Spiders are not insects, as many people think, nor even nearly related to them. (New Concept English, Book 4, p.8)
[原譯] 蜘蛛不是昆蟲, 儘管許多人都這樣認為, 它甚至與昆蟲幾乎沒有聯繫。(中譯本)
請問nor nearly 是“幾乎沒有”嗎?
答：譯者沒有注意到nor 對nearly 詞義的制約作用。須知nor even nearly related to them 是一個省略句, 等於and they are not even nearly related to them。nearly 單獨使用時確實作“幾乎”、“ 將近”(almost) 解。但是, 當not 與nearly 連用時, 就不再作“ 幾乎”解了。not (never, nor) nearly = by no means, far from(遠不, 根本不, 完全不, 一點兒不, 相差很遠) 。例如:
- It’s not nearly so easy as you think.
遠遠不是你所想像的那麼容易。 - It is not nearly as late as I though
根本不像我原來想像的那麼晚。 - I have 200, but that will not be nearly enough for my journey.
我有200 美元, 但遠遠不夠我旅行用。 - There are not nearly enough people there to do the job.
那裡根本就沒有足夠的人手來幹這件事。 - It’s not nearly so expensive as I thought
它遠不是我想像的那麼貴。 - There are not nearly enough members present to hold a meeting.
出席的成員遠遠沒有達到會議法定的人數。
[試譯] 與許多人的看法不同, 蜘蛛並不是昆蟲, 甚至與昆蟲根本沒有任何親緣關係。
另請參考nearly與almost之區別。