替代单数名词时,只替代“the +单数名词”,不可替代“a+单数名词”。例如:
The song by Schubert is more tuneful than that by Britain.(that=the song。song为可数名词。)
请注意,这里说的that只替代“the +单数名词”,不可替代“a+单数名词,系指that在句子中实际的作用,并非要求它在句子中所代表的前面出现的词组必须是“the +单数名词。例如:
In those days they lived a life worse than that of a beast of burden.
在该句中,前面出现的词组为a life,但that替代的却是the life。
that作为替代词,它不能用于零关系分句(即没有关系代词的定语从句)之前。例如:
The problem confronting us today is not dissimilar from that which the nation confronted in the 1930s.