| 词组 | awhile, a while |
| 释义 | awhile, a while For a word that has been in use in English since before the 12th century, awhile has taken a long time to achieve a final form, and there is good evidence that the process is not yet complete. The underlying problem is etymology: awhile is compounded from the article a and the noun while and has been written as one word in adverbial function since the 14th century. Now the usual prescription, propounded at least as early as Krapp 1927, is that when awhile is an adverb, it should be written as one word and when it functions as a noun phrase, it should be written as two words. Here are two examples that fit the theory: • ... it gives him a chance to chat awhile —Edward Hoagland, Harper's, February 1971 • "... and I'll stay outside for a while ..." —James Stephens, The Crock of Gold, 1912 The prescription is neat and it seems sensible enough, but there are two problems with it. First, awhile is often written or printed as one word after a preposition, such as for, in, or after, where theory holds it should be two words, and second, a while is often written or printed as two words after a verb where theory holds it should be one word. Our evidence indicates that neither of these floutings of the prescription has shown the least tendency to abate. Let us look at them in turn. It is the use of the one-word awhile after a preposition that attracts the most attention, for it is the easier of the two problems to be dogmatic about. The number of commentators who touch on it is very large: Krapp 1927, Bernstein 1958, 1965, 1977, Fennell 1980, Irmscher 1976, Little, Brown 1980, McMahan & Day 1980, Harper 1975, 1985, Shaw 1970, Johnson 1982, Nickles 1974, Bryson 1984, Phythian 1979, Janis 1984, Freeman 1983, Heritage 1982, Longman 1984, Copperud 1970, 1980, Corder 1981, and many more. Harper opines that copy editors frequently "correct" a while to awhile in phrases like "a while ago," and that this "correction" accounts for many instances of the one-word awhile found in print where two words might have been expected. Harper's is a plausible theory, but it unfortunately cannot be proved, and it is vitiated slightly by the OED's showing the first awhile ago to have been printed by Caxton in 1489. And the plain fact of the matter is that, in spite of the universal opposition of the above-listed commentators (and more), awhile is often spelled as one word in phrases like awhile ago or after awhile. Look at these examples: • ... try to get its members to show up for work once in awhile —Wall Street Jour., 10 July 1980 • We forgot, for awhile, the terrible troubles —Barbara Cressman, letter to the editor, Harper's, February 1971 • After awhile, the policemen arrested the three men —H. L. Stevenson, UPI Reporter, 1 July 1982 • ... a time-delay switch that keeps it shining for awhile —Consumer Reports, November 1978 • The price of gold has been at $500 for awhile —Barbara Ettorre, N. Y. Times, 29 May 1980 • ... even went to college for awhile —N. Y. Times, 13 Aug. 1976 • That got old after awhile —Richard Chamberlain et al., Quarter Horse Jour., July 1983 • He had to suspend publication of the Weekly for awhile —Thomas Powers, Rolling Stone, 17 Feb. 1972 • ... if prices turned up for awhile —Roy W. Jastram, Wall Street Jour., 11 Nov. 1980 • ... I got better for awhile —Randall Jarrell, letter, March 1965 • All she needs is a little guiding once in awhile — Katie Whitmore, quoted in Christian Herald, June 1967 • After awhile, even the professors.... —Paul Potter, Johns Hopkins Mag., October 1965 • I lived with him and his wife for awhile —Sally Kempton, Village Voice, 28 Feb. 1968 And these examples are from just the last two decades; we have many others from the preceding five. The OED has 19th-century examples from Ouida in 1882 and Keats in 1872 as well. Now let's look briefly at the opposite side of the coin: the two-word a while where awhile might be expected. Freeman 1983, for instance, believes in a strict dichotomy of style: two words after a preposition, one word after a verb. Heritage 1982, however, would allow either one or two words after a verb while calling for two words after a preposition. Consider, for instance, these variant stylings: • ... the commitments you mentioned awhile back — Cynthia Lofsness, quoted in William Stafford, Writing the Australian Crawl, 1978 • ... used a while back to dispose of cooking grease — New Yorker, 3 Dec. 1984 • ... and it will take a while —Flannery O'Connor, letter, 9 Nov. 1962 • "And that's going to take awhile." —Martin Karpis-cak, quoted in Christian Science Monitor, 21 Oct. 1980 • ... it has taken me awhile to read it —Jerome Beatty, Jr., Saturday Rev., 11 Feb. 1967 The difficulty of deciding that a single form is correct for adverbial use is illustrated by the example given in Corder 1981: • Can you stay awhile? The difficulty can be seen if we recall that a number of noun phrases—all functioning adverbially—can be used in the same slot awhile occupies: • Can you stay a week? • Can you stay a few minutes longer? • Can you stay a little while longer? In short, many noun phrases beginning with a and a space function as adverbs in English, and there is no compelling reason to prefer awhile to a while in such contexts. What conclusion can we reach? It is obvious that both awhile and a while are in wide use in places where some commentators believe the opposite form belongs. It is also obvious that your using awhile or a while makes no great difference to the reader. And both forms are ety-mologically and semantically identical, the only difference being the presence or absence of a space after a. The problem is a compounding problem. And except for the fact that almost every handbook in existence worries about it, it is not important at all. There are, therefore, two things you can do. You can follow your own feel for the expression and write it as one word when that seems right and as two words when that seems right. If you don't trust your own feeling for language that far, you can use a rule of thumb based on the consensus of the handbooks: use a while after a preposition and before ago, and use either awhile or a while in other places. You can substitute the phrase "for a while" for the one-word form in your context to help you decide. We close with some more examples. The first three fit our rule of thumb. But how about the last three? Would you write a while or awhile? • So let us escape from all this for a while —Simon 1980 • A while later I followed the workers —E. L. Docto-row, Loon Lake, 1979 • She would only stay awhile —E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime, 1975 • And the flapdoodle has lasted quite awhile longer — Thomas J. Bray, Wall Street Jour., 14 Jan. 1981 • ... till I had been to college a while —Marge Piercy, in Harper 1985 • ... he would dictate a while, then lapse into a coma —Flannery O'Connor, letter, 20 Apr. 1957 |
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