| 词组 | at about |
| 释义 | at about This two-word, three-syllable phrase has been the subject of an unlikely amount of discussion at least since the middle 1930s (our earliest note is from Jensen 1935). The standard objection is that the phrase is redundant. Evans 1957, who is almost the only usage writer who stands out from the crowd (Copperud 1964, 1970, 1980, Follett 1966, Janis 1984, Bryson 1984, Shaw 1970, 1975, Guth 1985, Ebbitt & Ebbitt 1982), points out that redundancy is not a reasonable claim, since at, a preposition, is frequently followed by adverbs (such as almost, approximately, nearly, exactly) and about, an adverb in this construction, is frequently used with other prepositions (Evans instances for about an hour, in about a week, by about Christmas). Follett admits that in some situations—those involving prices and rates, for instance—at about is appropriate: • ... holding the domestic price index for plastic products as a whole at about the 1969 level —Annual Report, Union Carbide Corp., 1970 • ... offered to buy gold at a fixed pound price and to sell gold at about that same price —Paul A. Samu-elson, Economics, 5th ed., 1961 The basis for the assertion that at about is redundant is that about can be a preposition as well as an adverb, and as a preposition has nearly the same meaning as at about. It is not reasonable, of course, to require a writer to use about as a preposition where it works (or only sounds) better as an adverb, but handbooks tend to overlook this point, for all their devotion to logic in other parts of the usage arena. "At about can be reduced to either at or about," says Ebbitt & Ebbitt. But consider this sentence: • Another leading librarian wrote at about the same time that it was the considered judgment of... — Eva Goldschmidt, College & Research Libraries, January 1969 If only at is used, the intended notion of approximate time is removed; if only about is used, ambiguity is introduced by the uncertainty whether about "approximately" or about "concerning" is intended. Obviously at about is the proper choice. Here are a couple of other examples in which neither at nor about can be omitted: • ... With a Bare Bodkin ... is Mr. Hare at about his best —M. R. Ridley, London Calling, 6 Jan. 1955 • ... as contrasted to superimposing scientific and professional education upon a cut-off liberal experience at about the age of twenty-one —Milton S. Eisenhower, Johns Hopkins Mag., February 1966 At about is another instance in which the usage writers appear not to know of literary use. Edward C. Fletcher, in American Speech, October 1947, defended at about as reputable and established. He presented more than fifty examples from literary sources. Among the authors he cited are George Borrow, Herman Melville, Henry James, Anthony Trollope, Charles Eliot Norton, E. M. Forster, Henry Adams, Edith Wharton, Katherine Mansfield, Virgina Woolf, John Dos Passos, Thomas Wolfe, Ezra Pound, Logan Pearsall Smith, D. H. Lawrence, Edmund Wilson, Carson McCullers, Wolcott Gibbs, J. Frank Dobie, I. A. Richards, Ludwig Bemel-mans, George Santayana, Osbert Sitwell, Evelyn Waugh, Robert Graves, Morris L. Ernst, John Hersey, John O'Hara, and John P. Marquand. You can compare this list with the list of handbook writers who condemn at about and decide which list offers the better guides to the art of writing English. Here are just a few more examples from our files: • ... and at about half after twelve ... we separated —Henry Adams, letter, 17 May 1859 • But at about this time —Edmund Wilson, Axel's Castle, 1931 • A careful examination of Mr. Pound's work shows two very obvious changes at about this time — Times Literary Supp., 13 Jan. 1950 • At about this time, she took me on as a kind of secretary —Louis Bromfield, "The Big Smash," 1952 At about is most frequently used with expressions of time, according to our evidence. In many of these cases, about can be used alone. But it need not be. When at about makes better sense or simply sounds better, use it without fear and with the encouragement of one contemporary commentator: • June Guilford of Cleveland challenges a sentence in which I said "at about the same time...." She wanted to know what that "at" was doing in there. Darned if I know. I suppose that "about the same time" would have sufficed, but "at about" just sounds better to me —James J. Kilpatrick, Portland Oregonian (syndicated column), 2 Nov. 1985 |
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