Reason why 文法討論

這篇文章牽涉了文法討論，讀來或許複雜。

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1. I know why you did it.
2. I know the reason that you did it.
3. I know the reason why you did it.
4. I know the reason you did it.

你可以從英語為母語人士口中聽到這四個句子，我認為第一句是最好的，因為它以最少的字表達出意思。

第四句也有可能的，因為在英文裡，當附加一個新獨立子句(you did it)到一個主要子句(I know the reason)時，省略連接詞是OK的。第四句是第二、三句的簡化版，若你用第四句的話可以避開第二句或第三句哪句較好的疑慮。

許多有聲望的作家幾百年來就一直使用『the reason why』(第三句)，即使如此，一些文法學者(即規範語言學相對於描述語言學)基於兩項主要問題而反對『the reason why』：(1)多餘的寫法(2)『why』沒有或不應該有關係代名詞的功能。(也就是說，依照這派文法學者的角度來看，『why』不能合乎文法的來帶出一個特定名詞，在這裡的特定名詞是『reason』。但用『why』當作不定代名詞(第一句)是OK的，表示該句並沒有明確的先行詞。 )

基於上述我所討論出來的結果，有些人會對『The main reason why wheat was sold is the big harvest of those years』有微詞，而另一方面也有些人會覺得『The main reason that wheat was sold is the big harvest of those years』聽起來很怪，所以我建議你用『The main reason wheat was sold is the big harvest of those years』。

原文:

You'll hear all four of these sentences from native speakers. I suppose Sentence 1 is best, because it gets the meaning across with the fewest words.

Sentence 4 is possible because in English it is OK to omit the conjunction when attaching a new dependent clause ("you did it") to a main clause ("I know the reason"). In other words, Sentence 4 is really a shortened form of either Sentence 2 or Sentence 3. So if you use Sentence 4, you can sidestep the question of whether Sentence 2 or Sentence 3 is better.

Reputable writers have been saying "the reason why" (Sentence 3) for hundreds of years. Even so, until recently, some grammarians (i.e., prescriptive as opposed to descriptive linguists) have objected to "the reason why" on two main grounds: (1) it is redundant; (2) the word "why" does not, or should not, function as a relative pronoun. (That is, according to these grammarians, "why" cannot be used to grammatically refer to a particular noun, in this case "reason." But it is OK to use "why" as an indefinite pronoun (Sentence 1), meaning that there is no specific antecedent.)

5. The main reason wheat was sold is the big harvest of those years.

6. The main reason why wheat was sold is the big harvest of those years.

7. The main reason that wheat was sold is the big harvest of those years.

For the reasons I've discussed, some people will complain about Sentence 6. On the other hand, some people think that Sentence 7 sounds odd. So I suggest you waffle and go with Sentence 5.

Originally written by Bill Kelly
Translated by Faineant

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我翻過了『文法聖經』，不同於上面提到的那群文法學者，『英文文法聖經』將『why』列為關係代名詞之一，也就是說『文法聖經』同意『the reason why』的用法。