Shortly after the accident, two ____ police were sent to the spot to keep order. A. dozen of B. dozens C. dozen D. dozens of(全国高考,92-29)
标准答案为 C(dozen)。能否选 A(dozen of) 呢?
一般的使用倾向是:在 dozen 前面有基数词时,使用零复数形式,故选项 C 是正确的(见 million):
two dozen(hundred, thousand, million) people
后面接 of 短语时通常使用词尾加-s 的复数形式：
many dozens(hundreds, thousands, millions) of people
但是,应当特别注意:即使在后一情况下也可以采用零复数形式:
-
a few million of us (CGEL) （我们几百万人）
-
two dozen of eggs （两打鸡蛋）（《英美语惯用法词典》）
-
three dozen of ale (三打啤酒)(《英汉辞海》)
-
some dozen of people （一些人）(《现代英语惯用法词典》)
-
I want three dozen of these. (OSD) 这些东西我要三打。
据此,我们不得不承认,选项 A 也是正确的。
[附注]南京读者王成林在读了《英语常见问题解答大词典》中的dozen条之后来信指出:他用计算机查阅了美国《时代周刊》2000篇文章,发现two dozen共出现27次,而且two dozen之后都不用of短语,如two dozen enterprises,two dozen children。他又对英国1995年《泰晤士时报》进行了分析,发现two dozen共出现92次,而two dozen of只出现5次。而且介词of之后的名词都是表示特定事物的名词,即带有the ,these等,如two dozen of the player's fans(这个队员的24名球迷)。由此看来,two dozen of police的说法是比较罕见的。但是,英语原著中既然有two dozen of eggs和three dozen of ale这样的实例,我们是否仍有充分理由把two dozen of police判为错误,尤其是对于高中毕业生?
请做下面的英语试题：
-
They sold ____ boxes of such sweets last week. A. four dozen B. four dozens C. four dozens of D. four dozen at
-
Mr Smith ____ me to buy several ____ eggs for the dinner party. A. asked... dozen B. suggested... dozens of C. had... dozen D. persuaded... dozens(上海高考,94-24)
-
She went to the bookstore and bought ____. A. dozen books B. dozens books C. dozen of books D. dozens of books （全国高考北京卷，06-23）