| 词组 | recollect, remember |
| 释义 | recollect, remember The distinction that can be made between these words is that recollect implies—or can imply—a conscious effort to recall something to the mind ("He tried to recollect the name of the street"), while remember more generally implies only having something available in one's memory ("He always remembered what she had said"). This distinction has been noted in dictionaries at least since Webster 1828, and in books on usage at least since Richard Grant White 1870. White regarded the use of recollect without connotations of conscious effort as an error, and a number of subsequent commentators (such as Vizetelly 1906, Bierce 1909, Fowler 1926, and Evans 1957) have more or less agreed with him. But the evidence shows that the distinction is not really a strong one. The "conscious effort" connotations of recollect certainly exist, and they come across clearly in some contexts: • "... tried to recollect how you looked, but I have never been able to recall a single feature." —Douglas Southall Freeman, "General Lee at the Surrender," in Worlds of Adventure (textbook), ed. Matilda Bailey & Ullin Whitney Leavell, 1951 But for many writers the real distinguishing characteristic of recollect seems to be that it has a folksy quality suggestive of rustic speech: • "I don't recollect ever hearing anything foolish about Rebekah ..." —Ellen Glasgow, Barren Ground, 1925 • I don't recollect ever once hearing any man of my family swear..., so of course it didn't come natural to me —Gerald Warner Brace, The Garretson Chronicle, 1947 And recollect also occurs in contexts where it seems to be little more than a straightforward synonym of remember: • Thank you for recollecting my weakness —Emily Dickinson, letter, 1869 • ... I recollect very clearly that one day when I was out sailing it snowed —Frances H. Eliot, New England Journeys, 1953 In short, recollect has distinct shades of meaning that are apparent in some but not all of its uses. It is, fundamentally, a synonym of remember, and its use without connotations of conscious effort is not an error. |
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