| 词组 | frightened |
| 释义 | frightened The prepositions used after frightened are of, by, at, and about. Frightened of has a history of being criticized which apparently started in the middle of the last century. The OED quotes an 1858 issue of Saturday Review as saying, "It is not usual for educated people to perpetrate such sentences as ... 'I was frightened of her.'" The OED's own comment is that "in recent colloquial use frightened of (cf. 'afraid of) is common." More than a century after the Saturday Review's criticism, the stigma attached to frightened of lingers in the minds of some usage writers. Winners & Sinners (9 Aug. 1962) calls it a "substandard colloquialism.'''' Bernstein 1965 labels it a "casualism," and Freeman 1983 says, "Rather than of, by should follow frighten." While some critics suggest by and at as replacements for of, others take the opposite tack and recommend afraid of instead of frightened of. Even if frightened of did deserve at one time to be called a colloquialism, it deserves it no longer. Our evidence indicates that when a preposition follows frightened, of is probably more common than by and certainly more common than at. All three can be considered standard. • We are frightened of any urge that would lift us out of the muck —Henry Miller, The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, 1945 • We are not frightened of being outsmarted —Hugh Gaitskell, N.Y. Times Mag., 27 June 1954 • I was really rather frightened of being with her — Adrian Henri, Times Literary Supp., 10 Apr. 1969 • ... frightened of allegations contained in the manuscript —Michael Gordon, The Age (Melbourne), 24 Mar. 1975 • ... frightened out of their wits by the fierce impact —Thomas B. Costain, The Black Rose, 1945 • ... people who like classical music but are frightened by its scope —Ann M. Lingg, Think, September 1954 • They were all frightened at the collapse of their lives —D. H. Lawrence, "The Horse Dealer's Daughter," in England, My England, 1922 Chambers 1985 accepts of, by, and at after frightened and says that about can also be the choice in colloquia' English when frightened"is used of a short-lived state of fear at a particular time in the present or future: There's nothing to be frightened about—the doctor won't hurt you." Even in more general circumstances than these and in written English, we think frightened about sounds idiomatic. • ... the owning and managerial classes were then frightened, not only of Labour, but also about their own economic survival —G. D. H. Cole, New Statesman & Nation, 21 Nov. 1953 |
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