英语Had Better的性质探究

An Analysis of the Nature of Had Better

英语文法界对had better的性质看法主要分为两种:情态习语与情态谓词。文章发现had better并非情态习语,因为习语的语义特征是意义不透明,而had better的词义并非完全不透明。从词义、形态和句法来看,had better与情态谓词的相同之处是:表达情态意义;没有人称与数的形态变化,后面可直接跟否定词not;助谓词在肯定句中位于谓语之首,且可与主语倒置形成疑问句。其与其他情态谓词的不同之处是:had better是由两个词组成的表达式,其语义并非完全透明。因此had better也并非情态谓词。因为表达式had better遵循情态谓词的句法功能,had better应为短语情态谓词。

There are two main views on the nature of had better in English grammar: modal idioms and modal verbs. This paper argues that had better is not a modal idiom. Since the semantic characteristics of idioms are opaque in meaning, whereas the lexical meaning of had better isn’t completely opaque. In lexical, morphological and syntactic terms, had better is identical to modal verbs in that it ex-presses modal sense;it has no morphological change of person or number and can be followed by not;the auxiliary verb had is placed at the beginning of the predicate in affirmative sentences, and can be inverted with subject to form interrogative sentences. Its difference from other modal pred-icates is that had better is an expression consisting of two words whose semantics are not com-pletely transparent. As had better follows the syntactic function of modal verbs, the paper concludes that had better is a phrasal modal verb.