| 词组 | early on |
| 释义 | early on This adverb is sometimes objected to in American writing as an obtrusive Briticism. It is a relative newcomer to the language, having arisen in British English around 1928. • 'It might have been given him earlier.' ... 'Well— not too early on, Peter. Suppose he had died a lot too soon.' —Dorothy L. Sayers, The Unpleasantness at theBellona Club, 1928 (OED Supplement) Early on came into frequent use in American English in the late 1960s and is now well established on both sides of the Atlantic. Another objection by commentators is that the on is superfluous; early will do. Looking at our evidence for the way that early on is used, we find that early could be substituted in some, but certainly not all, cases. When a sentence modifier is required, for example, the on is needed. • Early on, the project reached a climax of sorts —Jack Fincher, Smithsonian, July 1982 • Early on, Gould did such a good job as bulldozer operator, that Steiner hired him fulltime as ranch manager —Doug Perkins, The Cattleman, December 1983 Early on is a more specific adverb than early and refers to an early point or stage in a process or course of events. James McCawley is credited in William Safire's "On Language" column (12 Apr. 1981) with pointing out that early on "is never used when referring only to clock times: One does not say, 'Alice usually gets up early on.'" Our evidence bears out this observation. On the subject of this adverb's proper sphere of usage, Harper 1985 says, "there is nothing wrong with the formulation and it is rather charming, especially in casual speech," which may be a case of damning with faint praise. Early on is equally at home in speech and writing. • Early on, I was a conservative, snobby, Buckley type —Gore Vidal, quoted in Look, 29 July 1969 • ... my mother told me early on you don't sell diamonds at the five and dime —Robert Mitchum, quoted in Cosmopolitan, November 1976 • ... he had that particular cast of features which comes to maturity comparatively early on in life — Paul Scott, A Male Child, 1956 • Despite his unsuccess early on, one has the impression of a considerable manipulator of his own fortunes —Stephen Spender, N. Y. Times Book Rev., 26 May 1957 • ... very early on, Samuel Johnson learnt to fear the hours of stagnant idleness —John Wain, Samuel Johnson, 1974 • ... a former film student spotted early on by ... the president of Universal Studios —Hollis Alpert, Saturday Rev., 12 July 1975 • He was a liar who early on saw the incendiary power of his lies —Robert Leiter, American Scholar, Winter 1981/82 |
| 随便看 |
英语用法大全包含2888条英语用法指南，基本涵盖了全部常用英文词汇及语法点的翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。