| 词组 | forceful, forcible, forced |
| 释义 | forceful, forcible, forced There probably never would have been a problem about these words had not H. W. Fowler taken offense at a vogue for forceful in the British press in the 1920s. Fowler 1926 sprang to the defense of forcible, calling it "the ordinary word" and saying that forceful was reserved for poetic and other special contexts. He claimed more force for forceful than for forcible, and enigmatically illustrated this difference with a figurative example of forceful and a literal one of forcible. He then turned to his examples of forceful in order to damn them. Later commentators—Evans 1957, Copperud 1964, 1970, 1980, Shaw 1975, 1985, Bryson 1984, Janis 1984, Heritage 1982, Longman 1984—have come forward to try to clarify what Fowler muddied. Here is our summary of the situation in actual usage. Forceful is generally used figuratively in present-day American English: • ... has been a forceful advocate of the Army's viewpoint —Current Biography, November 1965 • ... a clearer and more forceful statement —Michael Kitzmiller & Kenneth Tollett, Center Mag., November 1969 It is less often used literally; when it is it means "characterized by force": • ... an explosion perhaps 500 times as forceful as the atomic bomb —Richard L. Williams, Smithsonian, January 1981 • ... obvious, forceful contractions —Russell L. Cecil & Robert F. Loeb, Textbook of Medicine, 8th ed., 1951 Forcible is most commonly—almost always in America—used literally. It suggests something done by force: • In those 10 decades China suffered forcible entry from Western imperial powers —Horace Sutton, Saturday Rev., 17 Mar. 1979 • ... believed to favor forcible seizure of power — Current Biography, February 1966 Forcible also has an older figurative use, practically identical with modern forceful: • ... many compliments too numerous and forcible to repeat —Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859 • A copious and forcible language —T. B. Macaulay, The History of England, vol. I, 1849 This was probably the use Fowler wished to defend. It is still found in British English, but not in American: • To his contemporaries he seemed clear-cut and forcible —Times Literary Supp., 19 Mar. 1964 Forced is added to the group by a couple of commentators. It shares with forcible the notion of being produced or done by force. But it tends not to be physical force but rather legal force or force of circumstances: • ... a discussion of forced busing —Judith Crist, Saturday Rev., 16 Oct. 1976 • Protection against forced labor —Carol L. Thompson, Current History, November 1952 • ... assignment to forced residence, which is really a form of imprisonment —Mary McCarthy, TV. Y. Rev. of Books, 9 Mar. 1972 Forcible is not normally used in this way. In the following example, forced is the word one expects: • ... John Adams was hurt by his forcible retirement from the Presidency —Garry Wills, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 20 Feb. 1983 Forced is also used of something produced by willpower or effort: • ... in this vein of forced lightness —Katherine Anne Porter, Ladies' Home Jour., August 1971 |
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