| 词组 | divide |
| 释义 | divide 1. The verb divide is used with a large number of prepositions, some of which are used rarely, others of which are used frequently. In the Merriam-Webster citation files there are occasional instances of divide being used with as to, to, against, and towards, but there is extensive evidence for its use, depending upon the sense, with a variety of other prepositions. The one used most often is into: • People who respond to international politics divide temperamentally into two schools —Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Harper's, August 1971 • Those concerned with this matter divide into several groups —Lewis Mumford, New Yorker, 9 Feb. 1957 • ... a plane that divides a geometric figure into parts equal in measure —Robert W. Marks, The New Mathematics Dictionary and Handbook, 1964 Divide is also used with between and among, with between occurring far more often. The choice seems often to be dictated by the old distinction that insists on between for two and among for more than two. However, some citations show that writers may ignore that distinction: • ... divide their time between Paris and Athens — Current Biography, July 1965 • ... the initiative, instead of being concentrated, is divided between many laboratories —A. W. Haslett, London Calling, 18 Mar. 1954 • ... the remainder is to be divided equally among his four sons —Mary P. Dolciani et al., Modern Algebra and Trigonometry, 1973 • ... political prestige is divided among Socialists and Nazis —Current History, August 1936 The use of divide with from is also common especially when both divisions are mentioned and one is the direct object: • ... the piece of knowledge that more than anything else divides women from girls —Herman Wouk, Marjorie Morningstar, 1955 In addition to the common mathematical use of divide with by, divide by is used in other contexts: • ... that town was roughly divided in half by the high and rugged Gardner Mountain Range —American Guide Series: New Hampshire, 1938 • ... more alike ... in feeling than any other two writers divided by three centuries —G. M. Trevelyan, English Social History, 1942 Divide may be used with on, upon or over when the matter that causes the division is the object of the preposition. On occurs most frequently, upon and over less often: • The doubtful civil liberties cases are those on which the court divides —John P. Frank, N.Y. Times, 3 Oct. 1954 • Experts divide over whether Mr. Reagan represents the vanguard of a tidal swing in the 1980s —Richard J. Cattani, Christian Science Monitor, 15 July 1980 • Agricultural workers are divided upon the question —F. D. Smith & Barbara Wilcox, The Country Companion, 1950 Divide with occurs, but not very often: • ... the American Weekly Mercury divided the honor with the Boston Gazette —American Guide Series: Pennsylvania, 1940 2. Many language commentators deplore what they consider the unnecessary use of the adverb up with certain verbs, divide among them. Divide up has been around for quite some time and continues to be used by writers of good repute: • ... to enable women to divide up domestic tasks — Sir Winston Churchill, The Unrelenting Struggle, 1942 • We divide up nouns into "masculine," "feminine" and "neuter" —Mario Pei, The Story of Language, 1949 • ... he might divide up a supply of jelly beans —John Holt, Atlantic, May 1971 |
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