「英語のニュースを読むコツ」シリーズにようこそ。
英語のニュース記事では、発言をしたのが誰なのか、だれが情報筋なのか等を示す語句が、文頭ではなく文末で使われることがよくあります。このような語句に含まれる動詞に注目するとパターンが分かってきます。
こういった時事英語で頻繁に使われる文の構造・パターンを分かっておくと、ニュース記事が読みやすくなります。
一例
まず、一例を見ましょう。少し長いですが、Reuters(ロイター通信)の2022年3月23日付けの記事から一部を引用します。文末に見られる、発話者・情報筋を示す語句には下線を引きます。原文の後に参考のために添える和訳は、日本文として読みやすくするために、原文の語順を反映していない場合もあります。
JAKARTA, March 23 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to attend the next G20 summit in Indonesia later this year….
The United States and its Western allies are assessing whether Russia should remain within the Group of Twenty major economies following its invasion of Ukraine, sources involved in the discussions told Reuters.
But any move to exclude Russia would probably be vetoed by others in the group, raising the prospect of some countries instead skipping G20 meetings, the sources said.
…[中略]
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said G20 members would have to decide but the issue was not a priority now.
“When it comes to the question of how to proceed with the WTO (World Trade Organization) and the G20, it is imperative to discuss this question with the countries that are involved and not to decide individually,” Scholz said.
“It is quite clear that we are busy with something else than coming together in such meetings. We urgently need a ceasefire.”
Russia’s participation in the G20 is almost certain to be discussed on Thursday, when U.S. President Joe Biden meets allies in Brussels.
“We believe that it cannot be business as usual for Russia in international institutions and in the international community,” U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.
A European Union source separately confirmed the discussions about Russia’s status at G20 meetings.
“It has been made very clear to Indonesia that Russia’s presence at forthcoming ministerial meetings would be highly problematic for European countries,” said the source, adding there was, however, no clear process for excluding a country.
ジャカルタ 3月23日 (ロイター)– ロシアのプーチン大統領は、今年インドネシアで開催される次のG20サミットに出席する意向だ・・・。
複数の関係筋はロイターに対し、米国及び西側同盟諸国が、ロシアのウクライナ侵攻を受けて、主要20カ国・地域(G20) 内にロシアがとどまるべきかを検討していると述べた。
しかし、ロシアを除外する動きはおそらく他の加盟国によって拒否されるため、一部の国はG20の会合を欠席する可能性があるという。
(中略)
ドイツのオラフ・ショルツ首相は、この問題はG20加盟国が決定すべきことだが、今優先されるものではないと述べた。
ショルツ氏は「WTO(世界貿易機関)とG20をどのように進めるかという問題になると、関係する国々と話し合うことが必須であり、個別に決めることはできない」と述べた。
「我々は、こういった会合への参加問題よりも、別のことで忙しくしていることは明らかだ。停戦を早急に実現しなければならない」と述べた。
G20へのロシアの参加は、ジョー・バイデン米大統領が木曜日にブリュッセルで同盟国との会合に出席する際に、ほぼ間違いなく議論されるだろう。
ジェイク・サリバン米国家安全保障担当大統領補佐官は記者団に対し、「国際機関や国際社会においては、ロシアとの関係が通常通りではあり得ないと我々は考えている」と述べた。
これとは別に、欧州連合(EU)の関係筋は、ロシアのG20での地位に関する議論が行われていることを認めた。
同関係筋は、「今後開催される閣僚会議にロシアが出席することは、欧州諸国にとって大きな問題となることを、インドネシアに対して明確に示してある」と述べたが、特定の国を除外する明確なプロセスは存在しないとも付け加えた。
分析
引用したニュース記事で下線を引いた当該語句を書き出してみます。
- sources involved in the discussions told Reuters.
- the sources said.
- Scholz said.
- U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.
- said the source, adding….
ここで注目したいのは動詞です。発話者(情報筋)を示す語句の構造を考察する際にカギを握るのは動詞だからです。動詞に注目しながら、ポイントをまとめましょう。
上の例で使われている動詞は3つ、「said」、「told」、「adding」ですね。このうち「said」と「told」は、この構造の中では主要な動詞です。一方、「adding」は現在分詞形になっており副次的な動詞です。
上の記事は単なる一例ですが、その中で使われている「say」と「tell」は、実は発話者(情報筋)を示す構造で最も頻繁に用いられる主要な動詞だと考えて良いでしょう。
とはいえ、「say」と「tell」以外にも様々な動詞が、この構造で使われます。例えば、「report」、「admit」、「reveal」、「outline」などいろいろあります。また、上の例では「add」が(「adding」という形で)副次的な動詞として使われていますが、主要な動詞として使われる場合もあります。
語順に注目すると、「say」が使われている場合は倒置法「V(動詞)+S(主語)」も使われています。実は、「say」以外の動詞が主要な動詞である場合も見られます。
さらに、「Scholz said」の次の部分は新たな段落となっていますが、実は引き続きScholz氏の発言が続いています。つまり、引用と引用の間に「Scholz said」があるわけですね。
また、副次的な動詞に関しては、上の例では「adding」が使われていますが、他の様々な動詞も用いられます。
このいくつかのポイントに基づいて、発話者(情報筋)を示す構造をいくつかのパターンに分類します。
- 「say」を使った基本的なパターン
- 「tell」を使った基本的なパターン
- 「say」「tell」以外の動詞を使ったパターン
- 倒置法「V(動詞)+S(主語)」
- 引用と引用の間に「say」等があるパターン
- 副次的な動詞が現在分詞形として使われているパターン
これらのパターンを一つずつ考察しましょう。
「say」を使った基本的なパターン
まず、最も代表的なパターンで、発話者(情報筋)を示す語句に「say」が使われている場合です。用例を見ましょう。
A guided missile cruiser carrying a crew of 510, the Moskva was the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. It sank on April 14 after being struck by two Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missiles, U.S. officials said. (NBC News, May 6, 2022)
Ukrainian authorities are racing to evacuate civilians from several hard-hit cities. An evacuation convoy is moving toward besieged Mariupol after Ukrainian and Russian officials agreed on a corridor Thursday. Over 100,000 civilians are still trapped in the city, officials say. (CNN, April 1, 2022)
”Ultimately, we and the whole world need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels altogether,” Biden said last month as he announced new steps to lower gas prices. (NBC News, April 22, 2022)
“President Biden remains absolutely committed to not moving forward with additional drilling on public lands,” Biden’s national climate adviser, Gina McCarthy, said this week on MSNBC. (NBC News, April 22, 2022)
“We can’t bring Patrick back. But we can bring justice in Patrick’s name,” he said. (AP News, April 23, 2022)
“Deadly epidemics may break out in the city due to the lack of centralized water supply and sewers,” the city council said on the messaging app Telegram. (AP News, April 29, 2022)
「tell」を使った基本的なパターン
次に、「say」ではなく「tell」が使われている場合の用例を見ます。
U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths will travel to Moscow on Sunday and then to Kyiv as the United Nations pursues a humanitarian ceasefire in Ukraine, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters. (Reuters, April 1, 2022)
Psaki is expected to stay in the job through the White House Correspondents’ dinner at the end of this month, one source told Reuters. (Reuters, April 1, 2022)
‘‘It’s a day for happiness and to be together,’’ he told an A.P. reporter at the St. Patrick’s Day parade this year. (New York Times, June 15, 2003)
“As a reminder, the School Committee is a board of seven members, and every voice should be heard,” she told the committee. (Berkshire Eagle, August 26, 2020)
動詞が「tell」の場合は、「tell」の目的語(「reporters」など)が発話者・情報筋を示す語句の中にありますね。
「say」「tell」以外の動詞を使ったパターン
文尾にある発話者(情報筋)を示す語句で使われる主要な動詞は、既に見た「say」と「tell」が最も頻度が高いのですが、これら以外にも、様々な動詞が使われます。その一部を用例で見てみましょう。
“I did a quick test of adding a script tag into the URL & loaded up the parent console,” he outlined, adding that he needed to play around with the syntax of the script for a while before getting a payload to “fire.” (Cyber News, October 11, 2021)
“Wherever there is a war, the highest price is paid by civilians,” the U.N. chief lamented. (AP News, April 29, 2022)
She [Press Secretary Jen Psaki] plans to join television network MSNBC, Axios reported on Friday, citing an unnamed source close to the matter. (Reuters, April 1, 2022)
Officers spoke with the gunman through the night via phone but he made no requests or demands, local media reported. (BBC News, January 28, 2022)
Most of the racist abuse on Twitter directed at the England team during the Euros originated from the UK, the social media giant revealed, adding it deleted almost 2,000 tweets in the wake of England’s final against Italy. (ITV News, August 10, 2021)
“There’s no room for watering down,” said European Parliament negotiator Jytte Guteland. “We need to preserve the ambition to make sure we obey the climate law,” she added, referring to the legally-binding climate targets. (Reuters, May 6, 2022)
Bitmex was also used to evade sanctions, the DOJ noted, adding that both Hayes and Delo communicated directly with the exchange’s customers “who self-identified as being based in Iran, an OFAC-sanctioned jurisdiction, but did nothing to implement an AML or KYC program after doing so.” (Business Telegraph, February 26, 2022)
“I’ve already recorded it,” he admitted, adding, “Taylor’s got a few surprises in store for you.” (Virgin Radio, June 28, 2021)
倒置法「V(動詞)+S(主語)」
次に、倒置法「V(動詞)+S(主語)」が使われているパターンです。用例を見てから、このパターンの特徴を考えましょう。
“From one side we were hearing the tanks shooting at us, and from the area of Bucha was a massive mortar shelling,” said resident Leonid Vereshchagin, a business executive, referring to a town to the north. (Reuters, April 1, 2022)
A total of 6,266 people were evacuated from Ukrainian cities through humanitarian corridors on Friday, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office. (Reuters, April 1, 2022)
“Today’s decision is nothing more than an evil announcement meant to divide, distract, and confuse Venezuelans further,” said Congress president Julio Borges, the opposition leader whose coalition is pushing for early elections, humanitarian aid to alleviate food and medicine shortages, and freedom for jailed activists. (Reuters, May 23, 2017)
‘I’m delighted to be back here in my home,’ admitted the singer before adding: ‘I couldn’t think of anywhere better to be right now.’. (Mail Online, August 17, 2020)
Colleagues have seen “bomb victims, the blast injuries, the mothers who have lost children”, noted Mr Catton. (Nursing Times, March 14, 2022)
どの様な場合に倒置法「V(動詞)+S(主語)」が使われるのでしょうか。
倒置法を使っても使わなくても、読みやすさに大差無いような用例もあり、明確な規則性があるとは言いにくいですが、以下の点が言えるのではないでしょうか。
- 倒置法が用いられている場合は、主要な動詞の直後に目的語がありません。ここで目的語というのは発話者(情報筋)から情報を受け取った人への言及です。これに対して、動詞の直後に目的語が来る「tell」のような動詞が使われている場合は、倒置法は使われません。例えば「she told reporters」を倒置したら意味を成しません(*told she reporters)。
- 発話者(情報筋)が単純な単語や語句(「he」や「one source」等 )のみではなく、その立場などを説明する語句が比較的長い場合は倒置法が用いられる傾向があるということです。そういった場合は倒置法を用いると語呂が良くなるからでしょう。上の「said Congress president Julio Borges, the opposition leader whose coalition is pushing for early elections, humanitarian aid to alleviate food and medicine shortages, and freedom for jailed activists」などは、その良い例です。
引用と引用の間に「say」等があるパターン
用例を見ましょう。
“April 24 will be a referendum for or against Europe – we want Europe,” he said. “April 24 will be a referendum for or against a secular, united, indivisible France … we are for.” (Reuters, April 23, 2022)
“Our democratic and institutional system is on its last legs. No candidate can tackle the real problems,” Venner said. “We are a de-industrialised country, a country in decline.” (Reuters, April 23, 2022)
“It cannot be assumed that firearm-related mortality will later revert to pre-pandemic levels,” the analysis says. “Regardless, the increasing firearm-related mortality reflects a longer-term trend and shows that we continue to fail to protect our youth from a preventable cause of death.” (U.S. News & World Report, April 22, 2022)
“Being exposed to the SARS-CoV-2 virus doesn’t always result in infection, and we’ve been keen to understand why,” study author Rhia Kundu said in a statement, using the scientific name for the coronavirus. “We found that high levels of pre-existing T cells, created by the body when infected with other human coronaviruses like the common cold, can protect against COVID-19 infection.” (U.S. News & World Report, April 21, 2022)
“COVID is not quite the first pandemic that we are dealing with,” Spaan says. “Humans have been exposed to viruses and other pathogens across time from the early beginning, and these infections have left an imprint on our genetic makeup.” (U.S. News & World Report, April 21, 2022)
引用と引用の間に発話者(情報筋)を示す語句があるパターンでも「said」以外の動詞が使われることがあります。
“I granted a temporary reprieve because of a technical oversight,” Lee told reporters on Friday. “I have high expectations for our departments, and the death penalty is a serious matter that requires attention to detail. We are digging into this, and I expect we will have more to report next week.” (AP News, April 22, 2022)
“I was shocked to be informed that two rockets have exploded in the city where I am,” the U.N. chief was quoted as telling the BBC. “So this is a dramatic war, and we absolutely need to end this war and we absolutely need to have a solution for this war.” (AP News, April 29, 2022)
こういった引用と引用の間で発話者(情報筋)に言及があるパターンでも、倒置法が頻繁に使われます。
“I think that it is imperative that there be an independent evaluation of what happened,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center. “And the reason I say that is because our experience across the country has been that departments of corrections hide the truth.” (AP News, April 22, 2022)
“Especially early on, there were a lot of asymptomatic cases,” says Robert Murphy, the executive director of the Havey Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “They either had very minor symptoms that they didn’t expect anything funny or anything more severe, or they had no symptoms at all.” (U.S. News & World Report, April 21, 2022)
“I find that disastrous because she is racist,” said Madalie, 36. “I am anxious, for me and for my children. I don’t understand this harassment (of Muslims), I don’t understand what she has against veiled women.” (Reuters, April 23, 2022)
副次的な動詞が現在分詞形として使われているパターン
最後に、発話者(情報筋)を指す語句のなかで、主要な動詞(「said」「told」など)に加えて、副次的な動詞が現在分詞形で使われている場合を考察しましょう。
まず、用例をいくつか見ていきます。
“They are not our friend, believe me,” he said, before disparaging Mexican immigrants: “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime.” (Time magazine, August 31, 2016)
“I don’t think we are going to get to a world where we say everyone has to wear face coverings the whole time everywhere,” he said, before adding: “We need to be stricter in insisting that people wear face coverings in confined spaces where they are meeting people they don’t usually meet.” (BBC News, July 11, 2020)
“Their story is actually one of courage and of quick thinking,” said Mr Schwankert, adding: “We don’t accept the history as it is presented – we don’t believe these guys just disappeared.” (Beffast Telegraph, August 15, 2017)
先ほど考察した、引用と引用の間に「said」など主要な動詞があるパターンに非常に似ていますね。
ただ、現在分詞形の副次的な動詞が使われている場合は、その後の発言(情報)は直接引用ではない場合も多く見られます。
His bid for the 2012 GOP nomination was “frustrating, painful and … humbling” he said, noting that the biggest lesson he took away from the experience was the importance of being physically and mentally prepared. (U.S. News & World Report, June 19, 2014)
“Listen we are an incredibly diverse mosaic of a country,” he said before suggesting that these issues are best left to the states. (U.S. News & World Report, June 19, 2014)
“The focus is on the surplus profits,” Oscar Graham, the country’s minister of economy and finance, said in an interview in Lima late on Friday, adding that the government was looking at an “adjustment” to taxes. (Reuters, April 2, 2022)
“Let’s go to elections now!” he said, before detailing how the new assembly will be partially elected by votes at a municipal level and partially by different groups, including workers, farmers, students, and indigenous people. (Reuters, May 23, 2017)
“I’ve known him personally for 14 years and I believe he is the best person to beat Hillary Clinton,” the governor said, before clarifying that he, Christie, was the best candidate but that Trump is the best of the remaining contenders. (Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2016)
“I must tell you that I’m astonished to hear some commentators pretend or hope that we won’t be able to have a majority,” he told reporters, before explaining how French presidents had in the past defied the same doubts. (Reuters, June 19, 2017)
“They need help,” Deese told reporters, explaining the measures are not a substitute for a broader relief package. (NPR, January 22, 2021 )
“The ones that have guns … when they get to the farm and see the monkeys, they kill them,” said Solomon Abang, who grows bananas near the ranch, explaining that farmers have zero tolerance for wild animals eating their crops. (Reuters, April 1, 2022)
“Dante’s school tends to be pretty open, so yes, he brings a cellphone,” de Blasio told reporters before saying that he would deliver a timeline in the coming weeks on steps towards a revised school cellphone policy. (Reuters, September 25, 2014)
“Some teams of divers generally have higher standards than others”, he said, before admitting that he had seen “fairly lax” diving operations taking place. (BBC News, July14, 2017)
用例をいくつか見ましたが、注目すべき点を挙げると、次の4つでしょう。
- このパターンで使われる主要な動詞としては、「said」と「told」に限らず様々な動詞が使われる。
- 副次的な動詞が現在分詞形で使われている場合にも、倒置法が用いられることがある。
- 現在分詞の前に「before」が使われる場合もあれば使われない場合もある。
- 現在分詞形で使われる副次的な動詞としては、「adding」が高頻度だが他の様々な動詞がつかわれる。例えば、「explaining」、「suggesting」、「clarifying」など。</>
* * * * *
今回は、「he said」のような発話者(情報筋)を示す語句が文末にある構造を見てきました。この構造はニュース記事で頻出するので、それに慣れると、英語のニュースもさらに読みやすくなると思います。
* * * * *
★ この「英語のニュースを読むコツ」シリーズでは、次の投稿で「asking to remain anonymous」のように、情報筋が匿名であることを示す表現を扱っています。こちら ⇩ をご覧ください。
★ ニュース記事で頻繁に省略される単語やフレーズについては、こちら ⇩ をご覧ください。
★ 時事英語(英語のニュース)の頻出単語・表現を集中的に学習する教材をお探しでしたら、こちらで ⇩ おすすめ教材を紹介していますのでご覧ください。
★ ところで、ニュース記事全体の見出しの読み方については、こちら ⇩ をご覧ください。