通常情况下，英语中的常规定语不外乎下列几种：

1. 形容词作定语：She is a beautiful girl .

2. 副词作定语：I live in the room above .

3. 介词短语作定语：the guy in the office is drinking coffee .

4. 不定式作定语：The author to write this book is famous .

5. 从句作定语：The writer who is going to write this book is famous .

我想侧重介绍一种我称为“非常规定语/表语”的语言现象。它的特点是鲜活灵动不拘一格，让句子充满现代感和俏皮感。学会用这种句式写作，可以帮助写作者构建自己别竖一帜的语言风格，形成自己独特的修辞手段。

这种“非常规定语”有几种不同的表现形式：

1. 利用“连字符号”（hyphen）把一个短语或甚至一个完整句子串联在一起，置于被修饰词之前，其功能等同于一个形容词，起到定语的作用：

I neared the rural street that we’d walked down from his parents’ house In the small might-as-well-be-Mexico town in Southern California.

But since I came from the Children-should-be-seen-and-not-heard era, I kept my questions to myself.

She squealed in her best I’ll-say-anything-to-make-a-sale voice.

2. 利用双引号将一个完整句子括起来放置于被修饰词之前，同样起到定语的作用：

But even as a kid I had trouble with the whole “God created the world in six days” thing.

“非常规表语”通常用在带有副词so 之后的句子，也是使用双引号括住一个完整句子，相当于一个形容词：

I hate the word “forever”. It was so “and then you’re dead.”

还可以不限于一个句子，甚至可以是一个小段落：

Dating is so----queer. So “Oh man, all the good ones are married or gay. Am I right, girls? High Five!”

与单纯的副词+形容词结构相比，这种“非常规表语”由于其拟人化的对话感而顿时让整个句子声情并茂跃然纸上。

当然，既然是“非常规”的语言现象，在使用时不可随意滥用，只宜起画龙点睛的功效。至于何时何地如何使用才算恰当，这个问题也问得太“你问我，我问谁” 了！