本族语和外国语均有语法结构。因为外国语的语法结构要花很多时间去学，故通晓外语的人通常有很强的“语法意识”，对本族语则由于不必刻意学语法都能说能写，故语法意识薄弱。到翻译时便出现两种现象：一是在英译汉当中，强烈的英语语法意识无形中左右了汉译的结构形式，使读者一看便知是翻译，而且有些使人难以卒读。二是在汉译英当中则出现另一种现象。即是本族人对本族语缺乏强烈的语法意识，但有极其牢固顽强的语法结构时刻在支配着言语行为。在功力未到的时候，强烈的英语语法意识不能克服根深蒂固的（有些语言学家认为是与生俱来的）本族语语法结构的影响。有些教师责怪学生的语法错误“屡教不改”，其实是他们暂时改不了。希望完全靠不自觉去获得英语语法结构，绝大多数人无条件办到。学外语，强烈的语法意识是一种积极因素，加上各种强化训练（包括不自觉的），习得（不是获得）英语语法结构仍是有保证的。

现在谈的是不属于初级的翻译。语法结构不止关系到句子通不通，而且关系到修辞和风格。在此主要谈英语语法结构在汉译英的运用，但不妨先看英译汉中，英语语法意识怎样对汉译的文笔起作用。下面是狄更斯《艰难时世》开头两段及其第二段的一种汉译文。

"Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon facts; nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own 

children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!"

The scone was a plain, bare, monotonous vault of a schoolroom, and the speaker's square forefinger emphasized his observations by underscoring every sentence with a line on the schoolmaster's sleeve. The emphasis was helped by the speaker's square wall of a forehead, which had his eyebrows for its base,

while his eyes found commodious cellarage in two dark caves over-shadowed by the wall. The emphasis was helped by the speaker's mouth, which was wide, thin, and hard set. The emphasis was helped by the speaker's voice, which was inflexible, dry, and dictatorial. The emphasis was helped by the speaker's hair, which bristled on the skirts of his bald head, a plantation of fire to keep the wind from its shining surface, all covered with knobs, like the crust of a plum pie, as if the head had scarecely warehouse room for the hard facts stored inside. The speaker's obstinate carriage, square coat, square legs, square shoulders—nay, his very neckcloth, trained to take him by the throat with an unaccommdating grasp, like a stubborn fact, as it was, all helped the emphasis.

这是一间不漂亮、没有什么陈设、单调的拱形教室，讲话的人说完一句话之后，便用他那方形的食指在那位教师的袖子上横划一下以加强他的语气。讲话的人那四四方方像一堵墙壁般的额头也在帮助他加强语气，而他的双眉就是那堵墙的墙根，同时，他的眼睛找到了两个为墙所遮蔽着的、宽绰深暗的窟窿作为藏身之所。讲话的人那又宽又薄而又硬邦邦的嘴巴也在帮助他加强语气。讲话的人那无转弯余地的、枯燥的、专横的声音，也在帮助他加强语气。讲话的人的头发同样地在帮助他加强语气，它们竖立在他那秃头的边缘，好像一排枞树，挡住了风，使它不致吹到那光溜溜的脑袋上来，而那秃头的外表凹凹凸凸像葡萄干馅儿饼上的硬皮一般，这颗脑袋似乎也没有足够的地方来储藏那些生硬的事实。讲话的人的顽强姿态，四四方方的外衣，四四方方的腿干，四四方方的肩膀，——不仅此也，甚至于像顽强的事实一般练就来紧紧掐住他喉咙那条领带——这一切都在帮助他来加强语气。

这是狄更斯1854年的作品，也可见狄更斯作品的风格。这一段除开头和结尾两句外，其余每句都有一个定语从句，但都是非限制性定语从句。每句开始都是The emphasis was helped by the speaker's...,然后以 which 承上引起从粗到细的一系列形象。每句到which从句完了以后都可以终止。然而形象一个接一个，愈来愈具体生动，好像绘画先勾画轮廓，然后逐步添上生花妙笔，完成一幅生动的图画。读者读这种句子，不待读完已知其基本意思，修辞学上称这种句子为松弛句（loose sentence）。