| 词组 | aught |
| 释义 | aught Copperud 1970 cites three of his authorities— Evans, Flesch, and Fowler—who stigmatize aught as archaic. He has incompletely reported Fowler, who both in 1926 and 1965 (revised by Gowers) recognizes "for aught I know" as still in use; Evans 1957 says only that some uses of aught have "a decidedly archaic tone," and he, too, recognizes the currency of "for aught I know." Copperud adds on his own that its use is "perhaps, pretentious"—a view not concurred in by other authorities and unsupported by our evidence. A glance at the entries in a dictionary such as Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary will show you that aught is archaic as an adverb and as a noun in the sense "nonentity, nothing"; it is still in use as a pronoun meaning "anything, all" and as a noun meaning "zero." Here are a few examples of the pronoun: • ... and would disdain as much as a lord to do or say aught to conciliate one —Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance," 1841 • ... appeal to aught that there may be of painter or poet in any one of us —Max Beerbohm, And Even Now, 1920 • "... for all they say I couldn't see aught but Jack "—ZaneGrey, The Mysterious Rider, 1921 • ... no one ever read fiction for aught else —Bernard DeVoto, The World of Fiction, 1950 • For aught he knew to the contrary, it might have been some quack —Gerald W. Johnson, New Republic, 20 June 1955 • But it is a rare evening when the breeze carries the odor of aught but blossoms —Melvin R. Ellis, National Geographic, August 1955 • ... Cora still lay without a stone, and for aught he knew he would someday return to the cemetery and find her grave gone —Bernard Malamud, The Magic Barrel, 1958 • ... nor even in the Andes has this onlooker ever beheld aught to match it —Irvin S. Cobb, Arizona Highways, July 1971 Even the senses of aught that are still alive are not especially common. The for aught construction may have been kept alive by its frequent occurrence in Shakespeare. Here are three out of many examples: • Nor is he dead, for aught that I can tell —Midsummer Night's Dream, 1596 • ... for aught I see —The Merchant of Venice, 1597 • It might be yours or hers for aught I know —All's Well That Ends Well, 1603 |
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