vain

1.比较下面四句：

• It was vain for me to try.
• I tried in vain.
• It was in vain that I tried.
• It was in vain for me to try.

第一句里用形容词vain做表语。第二句里用状语短语in vain形容tried。第三句是第二句的强势式（参见it 5）。第四句把in vain用作形容词短语，有人以为不正当。All my efforts were (in) vain里用in也有人以为不正当。

2.In vain the horse kicked and reared, but he could not unseat his rider里既用In vain，又用but，不合理。该把In vain删去，或把but删去，reared后的逗号改作分号。