前面有人提问了一个问题:
变间接引语词序:Who is your English teacher?
同时我想到另外一个问题:假如直接引语是What’s the matter? 呢?
书上说只可以用:He asked what was the matter.
而不可以用:He asked what the matter was.
但我在一篇阅读文章中见过如此的句子:
Hearing the sound, his wife rushed in and asked what the matter was.
这句话对吗?
此类问题答疑网上有几位老师解答过,可供参考:
http://ask.yygrammar.com/q-2351.html
▲附解答:
what was the matter等于 what was wrong,wrong是形容词,matter是名词,在表示“问题;问题”时,“定冠词+ matter”被当作形容词用了。如:
Is anything the matter? 如何了?《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》
Theres nothing the matter with it. 这没问题。《牛津高阶英汉双解词典》
当然也有人将the matter直接用作名词“问题;麻烦事”,如:
Every time he peeps, she jumps to see what the matter is. 每次他一发出尖细的叫声,她就跳起来看是如何一回事。《21世纪大英汉词典》
但这在英语口语中是不容易见到的,由于它有时会产生歧义,如:
I dont know what is the matter. 我不了解出了那些问题。
I dont know what the matter is. a) 我不了解出了那些问题。b) 我不了解这个东西是什么。