| 词组 | absent |
| 释义 | absent Bernstein 1977 and Copperud 1980 both comment on the appearance of absent as a preposition in constructions such as this: • Absent such a direct threat, Mr. Carter professes to feel no pressure —William Safire, N.Y. Times, 20 Dec. 1976 Both of these commentators note that the preposition is entered in Webster's Third, and neither condemns it. Copperud concludes by saying, "Whether absent as a preposition will win any wide acceptance only time will tell." Such evidence as we have accumulated since Copperud wrote his remark indicates that the prepositional use is gaining acceptance, though perhaps grudgingly. Safire 1984 discusses it; unsurprisingly, he approves it but notes some opposition. Harper 1985 puts the prepositional use, which the editors ascribe to "a few rather pretentious columnists," to a vote of their usage panel; unsurprisingly the panel rejects it by a thumping 92 percent in writing, and 95 percent in speech. (Three panelists use the preposition in their quoted rejections.) What is the background of this use? It is not quite as new as our commentators think. The earliest citation in the Merriam-Webster files is from 1945; it is used in paraphrasing a decision of the Supreme Court of South Dakota: • We think it clear, continued the Supreme Court, that under this definition, absent any other facts, there arises an implied contract —JAMA, 24 Feb. 1945 The origin of the preposition is clearly in legal writing. Here are a couple more examples: • Absent a general usage or custom, the importance of particular treaty provisions becomes apparent —in Edwin D. Dickinson, Cases and Materials on International Law, 1950 • Absent such a reservation, only the Court of Claims has jurisdiction —Bare v. United States, 107 F. Supp. 551, 17 Nov. 1952 It seems likely that someone reading extensively injudicial American English would be able to discover even earlier examples of the use. Up until the early 1970s all of our evidence for it came from published judicial decisions or reports of such decisions. In the 70s we began to see a spread of the preposition into quasi-legal contexts and into the reported speech of lawyers and politicians: • A program of unconditional amnesty, absent some accommodation on the part of the beneficiaries would be a disservice to the memory of those who fought and died in Vietnam —Hubert H. Humphrey, quoted by James A. Wechsler, N.Y. Post (undated citation received from a correspondent 15 Dec. 1975) But by the late 1970s and the 1980s, the use of the prepositional absent had broadened somewhat, appearing in such publications as Saturday Review, Newsweek, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, College English, and New Yorker. Most of the time now it is used to begin an introductory phrase: • Moreover, absent either huge further spending reductions or major tax increases, ... the government's budget deficit is as likely to grow as to shrink —Benjamin M. Friedman, Wall Street Jour., 13 Jan. 1982 • Absent baseball's antitrust exemption, this agreement ... would be illegal —John F. Seiberling, N Y. Times, 29 May 1983 • Absent a hyphen, the epithet must be taken at face value —Maxwell R. D. Vos, letter, in Safire 1984 • What I want is a clear blue sky, fresh sparkling waters, a handsome log house not made from a kit but put up for me by friends. Absent that, I want success in lawsuits —George W. S. Trow, New Yorker, 12 Mar. 1984 It is also used in ordinary prepositional phrases: • In a world absent politics and biology, they'd be chasing Tammy Mercer to do Kool-Aid commercials in a couple of years —Jonathan Evan Maslow, Saturday Rev., 26 Nov. 1977 |
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