VOA日常语法2023--Once Upon a Time...

Once Upon a Time...

Have you ever read stories like Little Red Riding Hood¹, Cinderella, or the Frog Prince?

These stories are called fairy tales. Although you might not have read them in English, you likely can find these magical stories in your own language and culture.

Fairy tales are stories passed down through the generations. The names of the characters might be in a different language, but many of these stories seem to tell of similar events.

In today's Everyday Grammar, we will look at the beginnings of these stories, and find out the "when, "who," and "what" of these stories we loved as children.

Beginnings: when?

Many fairy tales in English start with the same opening: "Once upon a time." When we read this phrase, we immediately know the story is a fairy tale and have ideas about what might happen. Many cultures have similar expressions beginning their fairy tales.

We know that these stories are made up. We set aside our disbelief to enjoy the magic of these stories.

"Once upon a time" answers the question of "when."

In English, the expression "once upon a time" means "at some point in the past." It is used to talk about a story that happened a long time ago, but the exact time is not important.

"Once upon a time, there lived an old woman..."

"Once upon a time, there was a rich man who lived happily for a long time with his wife." (From Cinderella)

Some fairy tales open with "There was once a..." This phrase also shows that the story happened in the past.

Both openings help us understand that the story is in the distant past. But they do not tell us about the characters in the story. Which brings us to our next question of "who."

Who? or What?

In fairy tales, nouns identify important people, places, and things. But adjectives are also very important.

The adjective "little" can be used before a character's name. Like, "Little Briar Rose" in the Grimm Brothers' version of Sleeping Beauty.

Other characters might be described with two nouns together like "Snow White" or "The Snow Maiden²."

There are several kinds of characters in a fairy tale.

Sometimes the stories are about families. There are often siblings³: brothers and sisters. You might read about a husband and wife or children and their parents.

In the story of Hansel and Gretel, the children are brother and sister, and they get lost in the forest.

Sometimes there are even stepparents or stepsiblings, family members created by a remarriage.

Cinderella has two stepsisters.

There is always a good character. This might be the hero or heroine, a female hero, in the story. This person carries out actions like rescuing someone or helping⁴ others. Or they might have a task to do or solve a problem.

Jack⁵ is the hero after he climbs the beanstalk and kills the giant.

Cinderella's fairy godmother acts as a heroine by helping Cinderella get ready for the ball.

There are "villains⁷" or bad people in fairy tales that might harm or put a spell on the hero or other characters in the story.

Cinderella has an evil stepmother who makes her into her house servant.

There is often "royalty," a queen or a king, in the stories because during the time of these tales that was how things were. And, if there is "royalty," there are also "commoners" or everyday people who might come from poor situations.

Rapunzel is a princess who is locked in a tower.

There also are magical numbers and objects found throughout fairy tales.

The most common magical numbers are "three" and "seven." For example, there is the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. In the fairy tale of Snow White, there are seven dwarves⁸ in the forest.

Sometimes words, phrases, or actions are repeated three times.

We can also find magical objects in fairy tales. These can help the hero or heroine, like the glass shoes in Cinderella. They can also be used by the villain⁶ of the story, like a house with chicken legs in the story of Baba Yaga or the Evil Queen's talking mirror in Snow White.

And there are magical animals that can talk and have human-like traits¹⁰ in fairy tales. These animals can be either good or bad. They can help or hurt the main character. In some tales, they might be the main character.

The cat in Puss in Boots talks and wears boots.

Final thoughts

Today, we talked about the beginning of fairy tales. We answered the question of "when" in the opening "once upon a time." And we answered the questions of "who" and "what" by thinking about the different characters, magical numbers, and objects in a few stories.

Let's close with some homework. Choose a favorite fairy tale in English. Then, write down the answers to the following questions: How does the story begin? What opening sentence does the story use? When does the story take place? Who are the characters?

After that, describe a few characters. Are there any magical numbers or talking animals? Who is the hero? Is there a villain?

Words in This Story

fairy tale –n. a simple children's story about magical things

magical –adj. something with impossible powers

phrase –n two or more words that do not form a complete sentence but that express an idea

character –n. a person in a story, book, movie or play

task –n. a job or something that must be done

beanstalk –n. a bean plant

fairy godmother –n. a person with magical powers who saves someone from trouble

spell –n. a group of secret words that carry magical power

tower –n. a tall structure

dwarves –n. (pl.) people in stories who are much smaller than most

trait⁹ –n. a quality that makes a person different from others

boots –n. (pl.) tall shoes that protect the lower part of the leg

1 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

2 maiden   

n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的

参考例句：

• The prince fell in love with a fair young maiden.王子爱上了一位年轻美丽的少女。
• The aircraft makes its maiden flight tomorrow.这架飞机明天首航。

3 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

6 villain   

n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因

参考例句：

• He was cast as the villain in the play.他在戏里扮演反面角色。
• The man who played the villain acted very well.扮演恶棍的那个男演员演得很好。

7 villains   

n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼

参考例句：

• The impression of villains was inescapable. 留下恶棍的印象是不可避免的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some villains robbed the widow of the savings. 有几个歹徒将寡妇的积蓄劫走了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 dwarves   

n.矮子( dwarf的名词复数 )；有魔法的小矮人

参考例句：

• Everyone will try to claim it: Men, Dwarves, wizards. 每个种族都会争取它的拥有权：人类，矮人，巫师。 来自电影对白
• Have you learned nothing of the stubbornness of Dwarves? 难道你还不了解那个矮人的倔强吗？ 来自电影对白

9 trait   

n.显著特点，特性

参考例句：

• Creativity is a human trait.创造力是人类的一种特性。
• Repose of manner is an estimable trait in a horse.神情镇定是一匹马可贵的特质。

10 traits   

n.人的个性，显著的特点，特征( trait的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We do not know which behavioural traits are inherited and which acquired. 我们不知道哪些行为特征是遗传的，哪些是后天养成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His generosity is one of his good traits. 慷慨大方是他的好品质之一。 来自《简明英汉词典》