| 词组 | errata |
| 释义 | errata This little-used word leads a double life. Its primary existence is as the plural of erratum, a fancy synonym for "error" that is used principally to mean "an error in a printed work discovered after printing and shown with its correction on a separate sheet." But errata is also used in the publishing world in a distinct sense denoting either a list of such errors or the page on which such a list is printed. Usage commentators such as Shaw 1975, Harper 1975, 1985, and the panelists of Heritage 1969 and Heritage 1982 take a peculiar attitude toward this sense of errata. They accept the sense itself but advise that errata should always be construed as a plural, even when its meaning is "a list" or "a page." It appears to us that this advice is impossible to follow: • The Errata, if included, is a list of errors —C. A. Hurst & F. R. Lawrence, Letterpress Composition and Machine-Work, 1963 One could not say "The Errata are a list ..." When errata is clearly being used in its singular sense, it cannot logically be used with a plural verb—such usage would be equivalent to saying, "The list are ..." or "The page are ..." In cases where a plural verb can be substituted without resulting in an ungrammatical sentence, the effect of the substitution is to change the meaning of errata. For example, if "The errata is in the appendix" is revised to "The errata are in the appendix," errata no longer means "list" in the revised sentence, but is serving instead as the plural of erratum. Confusing, isn't it? The point is that when the commentators say errata should always be treated as a plural, they are saying in effect that the use of errata to mean "a list" or "a page" is incorrect. What our evidence says is that the singular use of errata is limited to—and is correct in—the world of publishing: • ... this reissue ... differs from the original only in the additions of an explanatory preface and an end errata —Glenn O. Carey, CEA Critic, January 1972 For other foreign plurals, see Latin plurals. |
| 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。