原句 是正確的!



原句 = American playwright and director, David Mamet, who says that characters in plays do not really exist and that it is impossible to become a character, agrees.



= David Mamet says that characters in plays do not really exist and that it is impossible to become a character.

And he agrees (on what we just talked about).

基本上，Louis 說的都對。我的疑問是:

1.) 對一個連原句的意思都未能掌握的英語學習者，這樣的文法論述真能幫助理解嗎?

2.) 其次，一句話有許多不同的表達方式，了解不同的寫法和其意義上的細微差異對學習有幫助?還是分清是"形容詞" 還是 "副詞" 修飾語重要。

3.) 此外，副詞修飾語是不是真的不能改寫成 "形容詞" 修飾語?

4.) 同位語的擺放位置?



原句是正確的:

American playwright and director, David Mamet agrees, saying that characters in plays do not really exist and that it is impossible to become a character.



a.) 同位語的位置

American playwright and director, David Mamet agrees,...

American playwright and director 後接逗點是同位語的寫法，同位語不一定要置放於對象之後。

=David Mamet, American playwright and director, agrees,... (此一寫法型成該句的重點 David Mamet agrees 被同位語隔開)



不採同位語，是否一定要加上 "THE"

The American playwright and director David Mamet agrees,... (加上 the 是文法基本教義派的觀點。不可諱言，這樣的寫法是既正式又莊重。我可以舉具公信力，無數的例子，此一 "the" 並非強加不可)



b.) it is impossible to become a character. 這句話也許不完整，但語意並沒有問題。因為原句是出自一篇文章，很顯然說的是 actors，而這actors在前文中已提及，文章寫作不必要非重述不可。



c.) American playwright and director, David Mamet agrees, saying that... (原句是分詞構句的寫法，有無 while 是各人的偏好，無關對錯)

= David Mamet, American playwright and director, agrees and says that...

= American playwright and director, David Mamet, who says that characters in plays do not really exist and that it is impossible to become a character, agrees. (prisoner26535的版本)

= The American playwright and director David Mamet agrees by saying that... (Louis 的版本)



上述各種方式都可表達同樣的意思。對以文字為業的人來說，每一句都可以有細微的差異。而如果置於文章段落中，須依前後文的敘述來取捨，以達到行文流暢，同時語意明確的效果。

這是用來修飾述部agrees的「分詞構句」(saying that ... and that ...：兩個that ...都是名詞子句，當作現在分詞saying的受詞)。此分詞構句(participial construction)屬於「副詞性質」的修飾語。與述部的agrees有同時發生的關係。即:The American playwright and director David Mamet agrees, while saying that .... and that ....(加上連接詞while後句意會更明顯。）（修飾語內的資訊不是句子的重點，主句裡的才是：Mamet agrees.)

它不是主詞David Mamet的修飾語，因為「形容詞性質」的修飾語通常應跟著它的先行詞後面，不會再隔著一個主要動詞agrees。



Saying that ... and that ..., the American playwright and director David Mamet agrees.也是本句的另一種寫法，把分詞構句移到句前（句焦點比較明顯，因為放在句尾），句首也是一般分詞構句位置。但如把分詞構句放在句尾，可讓下一句接著它的話題繼續發展。



本句如果寫成：The American playwright and director David Mamet agrees by saying that ... and that ....裡面的~ing就是「動名詞」了。述部的修飾語則成了一個「介系詞片語」（介系詞＋動名詞），還是副詞性質的修飾語。



~ing的詞性要看它與上下文的關係，才能判定。



ＰＳ：你句子裡的第一個逗號是多打的，因為限定性質的同位語不能用逗號隔開(普通名詞受到後面專有名詞的限定 ，普通名詞適用在同類的任何一個，常需要限定性的修飾語或同位語來加以限定，才能專指特定的某一個。加逗號的同位語或修飾語表示為非限定)。此外，第二個that子句的語意不明。可能抄漏了一些文字。（可能是: It is impossible for xxx to become a character?)。而受到同位語限定的普通可數名詞American playwright and director前面也漏了定冠詞the（=that one)。



冠詞a/the的對應關係：

David Mamet is an American playwright and director.

That playwright and director is David Mamet.

David Mamet, an American playwright and director, is my neighbor.

The American playwright and director David Mamet is my neighbor.