| 词组 | every |
| 释义 | every 1. Subject-verb agreement. Since every regularly modifies a singular noun, it is not too surprising that a singular verb usually follows. The pronoun every is archaic, so every is not bedeviled by quite the same number of conflicts between grammatical agreement and notional agreement that each and the other indefinite pronouns are. • ... every snob thinks that the common people must be kept in their present place —George Bernard Shaw, The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, 1928 • ... given to every Sioux girl who was the first-born child —American Guide Series: Minnesota, 1938 • By now, every woman knows it's all right —Jane DeLynn, Cosmopolitan, December 1976 When every modifies two or more nouns joined by and, there is mixed usage, at least in part because of the rule that compound subjects joined by and are both grammatically and notionally plural. Every, however, tends to emphasize each noun separately, and the singular verb is common. The possibility of nouns joined by and being considered individually and thus taking a singular verb had been recognized as early as Lowth 1762; Fer-nald 1916 makes a specific exception to the rule of a plural verb for nouns modified by each, every, and no. Our evidence shows that the singular verb is more common: • Every legislator, every doctor, and every citizen needs to recognize ... —Ronald Reagan, Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation, 1984 • Every kitchen, office and shop in Sun Valley was on his beat —Peter J. Ognibene, Smithsonian, December 1984 • This every beginning college teacher and graduate student knows —The Hazon Foundation, The Importance of Teaching, 1968 But the plural verb is not rare: • ... every phrase, every line and every stanza are indissolubly welded —Marjorie Gullan, The Speech Choir, 1937 • Every single word and meaning of great ancient writers like Geoffrey Chaucer were recorded in the OED —Robert Burchfield, U.S. News & World Report, 11 Aug. 1986 2. Pronoun reference. Longman 1984, in a usage note at every, opines that since every modifies a singular noun, it would seem logical that it would be followed by singular pronouns. But it often is not; the effect of notional agreement and considerations of sex often work to bring in plural pronouns. Evans 1957 has a rather succinct set of rules (we omit the examples) to sum up the situation: • It [every] is also followed by a singular pronoun when there is no question whether it is males or females that are being talked about But when the reference is to both men and women, or the sex is unknown, a plural pronoun is generally preferred, ... although some grammarians insist on the generic his. The plural pronoun is required in speaking of something owned in common ... The difference in Evans's approach and that of "some grammarians" is illustrated by this excerpt from Harper 1985: • "I want every supervisor and employee to continually ask themselves these questions" is an example of a common error in choice of personal pronoun. Evans would prefer themselves, since the sex is unkown, but Harper—in 1985 liberated enough not to require the generic his—calls for himself or herself. But notional agreement suggests the plural here too. Actual usage is not quite as tidy as Evans's rules are. For instance, when there is no problem about males or females, the singular pronoun is usually used: • ... every woman knows it's all right not to get an orgasm each and every time she goes to bed with a man —Jane DeLynn, Cosmopolitan, December 1976 • Every bumptious idiot thinks himself a born ruler of men —George Bernard Shaw, The Intelligent Woman 's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, 1928 • ... she lived in every moment entire as it came — Pearl Buck, The Long Love, 1949 Sometimes notional agreement will by itself attract a plural pronoun, even when there is no question of gender: • I said, 'Now you wait and see. Every man in this United States that's got a daughter will be on my side,' and it turned out they were —Harry S. Truman, in Merle Miller, Plain Speaking, 1973 The pull of notional agreement is especially strong when inanimate objects are involved: • Every kitchen, office and shop in Sun Valley was on his beat, and he visited them all —Peter J. Ognibene, Smithsonian, December 1984 • ... every country that could produce the required goods was inundated with orders far beyond their capacity to supply —John A. Todd, The Mechanism of Exchange, 6th ed., 1949 • Every species of atoms or ultimate particles of bodies will be found to have their peculiar powers of attraction for heat —Leonard K. Nash, Atomic-Molecular Theory, 1950 • EVERY proper name in the Bible, with reference to passages where they occur —advt., quoted in Follett 1966 When the reference is to men and women or when the sex is unknown, the plural pronoun is almost always used: • If we can succeed in persuading every man and woman, every nation to do their utmost —Herbert Hoover, quoted in Time, 27 May 1946 I wish it were possible for every man and woman in this country to see for themselves what World War • II has done —Basil O'Connor, Key Reporter, Summer 1946 • ... the right of every nation, of every people, of every individual to develop in their own way — Dean Acheson, New Republic, 23 Jan. 1950 • ... having a clerk telephone every U.S. correspondent in the capital, urging them to come to the embassy—Time, 11 Aug. 1952 • I saw every student before they went away —example from the Survey of English Usage (spoken), quoted in Longman 1984 Evans's observations are very close to the mark. 3. Copperud 1970, 1980 mentions some disagreement among grammarians and other observers over whether every is an adjective only, or is also an adverb. Dictionaries generally enter it as an adjective (every the pronoun is archaic). Bryant 1962 points out that it is an adverb in such phrases as every now and then or every so often. Merriam-Webster dictionaries treat these phrases as fixed idioms. The issue seems to have little practical importance. |
| 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。