时间:2019-01-03 作者:英语课 分类:2018年VOA慢速英语(三)月


英语课

 


In the song “Whenever, Wherever,” popular Colombian singer Shakira tells us about a long-distance romance. At one point in the song, she asserts that time and distance are of little importance when two people are meant for each other:


Can't you see


I'm at your feet


Whenever, wherever


We're meant to be together


I'll be there and you'll be near


And that's the deal, my dear…


In the song, Shakira uses the words “whenever” and “wherever,” meaning “it doesn’t matter when” and “it doesn’t matter where.”


From popular songs to written and spoken communication, English speakers use what are called “-ever words” quite a lot. Today, we will explore the meanings and uses of these words.


Each one is formed by taking what we call “wh- question words” –like when and where -- and adding the word -ever to them.


A common structure for -ever words is: -ever word + subject + verb.


And, as you will see, each word has two main meanings, and they are not very different.


Whatever


Let’s start with the word whatever. The word whatever can mean “anything” at all or “it doesn’t matter what.”


Listen to an example:


You can have whatever you like.


This sentence means: “You can have anything that you like.”


Whatever also means “it doesn’t matter what.”


Listen:


Whatever you do, don’t come home after sunset!


This sentence means: “I don’t care what you are doing. Just don’t come after sunset!” In this case, “Whatever you do” is a not a necessary clause, but is used to emphasize when to return home.


Whichever


Our next -ever word is whichever. The word whichever can mean “any one of a group” or “it doesn’t matter which.”


English learners may ask about the difference between whichever and whatever. Here’s what’s different: whichever is used when identifying from a set of choices that are known to both the speaker and the listener.


Listen:


Those three hats are the nicest. Choose whichever you like best and I’ll buy it.


This means: “Choose any one of the three hats and I’ll buy it.”


The word whichever also means “it doesn’t matter which.”


Listen:


I’m not sure whether I want to go to Martinique, Guadeloupe or St. Lucia.


Whichever trip you choose, I’m sure you’ll get lots of time in the sun.


The second speaker is saying: “It doesn’t matter which trip you choose. I’m sure you’ll get to spend a lot of time in the sun.”


Whoever


Our next -ever word is: whoever or whomever. Unlike other -ever words, this word has two forms.


The word whomever has become less common over the years because of the difficulty people have had knowing when to use it. Today, whoever is more popular in American English.


The word whoever can mean “any person” or “it doesn’t matter who.”


Listen:


Whoever told you that didn’t know much about cars.


This means: “Any person who gave you that piece of information did not know much about cars.”


Whoever also means “it doesn’t matter who.”


Listen:


Whoever you go with, make sure they bring their cell phone.


The speaker is saying that it doesn’t matter who you go with. Make sure they bring their phone.


Now we’ll tell you about wherever, whenever and however and give you some sentence examples. But this time, instead of us telling you the meaning, you can tell us the meaning in the Comments section.


Wherever


Our next word -- wherever -- can mean “in at or to any place” or “it doesn’t matter where.”


Listen an example:


Home can be wherever you find happiness.


And here’s another one:


Wherever the boy went, the dog followed.


Tell us what you think each sentence means.


Whenever


Onto our next -ever word: whenever. This word can mean “at any time” or “it doesn’t matter when.”


Here’s one example:


I’m going to stay for another hour. Feel free to leave whenever you want.


And here’s another:


Whenever you have time, let’s sit down and have some pie.


Did you guess the meanings of these whenever sentences?


In the second example the word whenever is used simply to emphasize that this can happen when the person has time. Replacing whenever with the word when would express the same basic meaning.


However


Now, let’s move on to our final -ever word for today: however. As you may know, however can have a few meanings, including being a synonym for the word but.


But today, we’ll talk about its meanings as an -ever word. However can mean “in any way” or “it doesn’t matter how.”


Listen to an example:


We will help you however we can.


Here’s the second example:


However you do it, please finish it by 10 tomorrow morning.


Tell us what you think the meanings are in the Comments.


What can you do?


So, how can you become comfortable using -ever words?


The next time you’re reading something, listening to a song, or watching a film or television show in English, look for examples of -ever words.


Then, try using them in your everyday conversations. If you practice these words enough, you’ll be able to use them whenever and wherever you like.


I’m Alice Bryant.


Words in This Story


assert – v. to state something in a strong and definite way


it doesn’t matter – expression. used to say that something is not important


clause - n. a part of a sentence that has its own subject and verb


emphasize – v. to give special attention to something


synonym – n. a word that has a similar meaning as another word in the same language


comfortable – adj. causing no worries, difficulty or uncertainty


practice - v. to do something again and again in order to become better at



学英语单词
acetone extract
Aconitum contortum
adolesce
Algerine
as sukhnah (es sukhne)
Asosan
assignment half-word
aubisque
axial inductively coupled plasma
Ballsh
bill coincides with cargo
bulau
capillary surface
cercla
claim to immunity
cold preliming
consultant engineer
contemporary thoughts
coriaceous strepitus
cprw
cuproxoline
current activity stack
demyse girdle
depressor septi
eblio
emergency intake structure
end slope of groyne
epidemic myalgias
epilogizing
fnum
function preselection capability
glue sticks
grey-wedge pulse-height analyzer
hardware reliability
hardware selection criteria
heat-resisting aluminium alloy
herpes iris of bateman
hexanitro-mannite
holiday repair outage hours
inborrow
interpretation of predicate calculus
jeremijenko
JNACC
junction gate fet
junction pipe
keypads
laniger
latching
lattice circuit
lavatorium
marine indicator species
maximum-to-average-power ratio
melanotheca rubromaculata
Metoro
mo(u)ld protease
Montemurlo
movin'
object oriented multi-user dungeon
oleh
one-way layout
Onekotan, Ostrov
pacific blockade
parisa
Pertya bodinieri
post-mission zero calibration
poster board
power applications in other industries
praeposituses
pre-render
pustular lupus
rad hard
resonator-tron
right-of-way post
sal aeratus
scalding water additive
serial bonds
set one's foot on the neck of someone
short range battle practice
side chapel
sinsyne
slide prevention
smombies
smoothing chisel
SNAP (simulated network analysis program)
solid-on
sorr
spadoes
spotted asparagus beetle
statelike
surface-field-effect transistor
sympathesis
tank level control
tertial
timmins
tomoechography
traditionalise
udhr
unappropriates
Valsalva method
variola maligna
wide band discriminator
with an easy grace