| 词组 | actual, actually |
| 释义 | actual, actually Both words are tarred with the brush of meaninglessness by Copperud 1970, who cites Fowler 1965 and Evans 1957 in support of his view, although Evans and Fowler (actually Gowers, since Fowler 1926 does not mention it) condemn only actually. We will examine the words separately. Copperud's objection to actual lies in a single quoted sentence: "The stocks were sold at prices above actual market prices." The trouble with this example is that it lacks its preceding context. In a majority of instances of the use of actual in our files, it contrasts with some other adjective, either stated or implied. Combined with price, actual is usually so contrasted: • ... actual prices received (as opposed to posted prices) have not kept pace —Fred L. Hartley, Annual Report, Union Oil Co. of California, 1970 In Copperud's example, the contrasting price may have been mentioned or implied in an earlier sentence in such a way as to make the use of actual entirely apposite. Here are some other examples of actual in its con-trastive use: • I had enjoyed my actual sins, those I had committed rather than those I had been accused of —Ernest Hemingway, "Miss Mary's Lion," 1956 • ... I'm no judge of the feelings of actual or prospective parents —Rose Macaulay, Potterism, 1920 • ... how would he set out to make any actual person a character in a novel? —Bernard DeVoto, The World of Fiction, 1950 • ... the services it provides ... to actual and potential publics —Jerome H. Skolnick, AAUP Bulletin, September 1969 • ... a very popular subject indeed among intending and actual undergraduates —Malcolm Bradbury, Times Literary Supp., 25 July 1968 • ... his wonderful dramatic monologues ... are written in verse that uses, sometimes with absolute mastery, the rhythms of actual speech —Randall Jarrell, NY. Times Book Rev., 21 Mar. 1954 Phythian 1979 mentions actual, too, objecting to "the common phrase in actual fact." The phrase is probably more common in speech than in print, for it is not abundantly attested in our files. • In actual fact, Fishpond Lake is not the beautiful paradise that Bethlehem's camera makes it out to be. Whereas it looks large, serene, and lush in the ad, it is actually cramped and barely covered with scrub brush —Peter Harnik, Environmental Action, 15 May 1971 The phrase seems justified in this instance by contrast with the pseudo-factuality of what the camera shows. The phrase has appeared in somewhat altered forms: • He did, as an actual fact, miss Cards terribly —Hugh Walpole, Fortitude, 1913 Actual has, besides its use in pointing up a contrast, an intensive function sometimes meant to stress authenticity: • ... she demanded that the soldiers' uniforms in "Fatinitza" be trimmed with actual sable! —Carl Van Vechten, Saturday Rev., 29 May 1954 • ... some of his suits have actual whalebone up the ribs —Lois Long, New Yorker, 21 Mar. 1954 It is also used as a simple intensive: • It would be an actual benefit to the town if a few men owned the factory —Sherwood Anderson, Poor White, 1920 • But whatever the actual human and physical cost, the political shock was devastating —Allen S. Whiting, Life, 21 Feb. 1969 • ... many heavy leatherites will think twice about confronting an actual well-dressed lady —Blair Sabol, Vogue, November 1976 The intensive actual can reasonably be challenged as unnecessary in many instances. In the following quotations, it could probably have been omitted if the author so chose. The choice is a matter of style and taste. It might be a useful exercise to try to determine whether the sentences sound better with or without actual. • ... there ensued a long conversation as they walked as to whether waiters made more in actual wages than in tips —F. Scott Fitzgerald, "May Day," in The Portable F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1945 • A doctrine that identifies what ought to be with the lowest elements of actual reality cannot remain acceptable for long —Aldous Huxley, The Olive Tree, 1937 • I have rounded the figures to make the arithmetic easy, but the orders of magnitude are not far from the actual facts —Robert M. Solow, Think, May-June 1967 • On the other hand, Auden is steadily increasing his mastery over the actual craft of verse —G. S. Fraser, in Little Reviews Anthology 1949, ed. Denys Val Baker, 1949 • ... a delightful rendition that awed the audience especially when they learned that both Glee Clubs had but an hour's combined rehearsal time before the actual concert —Duncan Dobie III, Dartmouth Alumni Mag., May 1954 Actually is a more difficult subject. It is the more widely disparaged word, and disparagement of it is somewhat diffuse. In addition, the usages that seem to have excited the criticism are primarily spoken rather than written usages, so that printed evidence of the disputed usages is not as abundant as one would like it to be and as it would be if a primarily written use were in question. We will first examine typical written usage before passing on to the spoken. It should not be surprising to find actually used in adverbial functions corresponding to the adjective functions of actual. It is used to point up a contrast: • Whereas it looks large, serene and lush in the ad, it is actually cramped and barely covered with scrub brush —Peter Harnik, Environmental Action, 15 May 1971 • But actually there is a pattern which underlies these contradictory orders —Margaret Mead, And Keep Your Powder Dry, 1942 • Sea anemones may resemble pretty flowers, but actually they are deadly animals —Murray T. Pringle, Boy's Life, April 1968 But the most common use is to stress the reality or factuality of something. In this use, actually is not necessarily emphatic: • ... could not even find out how many airplanes there actually were —David Halberstam, Harper's, February 1971 • ... nobody actually knows ... whether fewer books are being read —J. Donald Adams, N. Y. Times Book Rev., 11 Apr. 1954 • ... showing the picture that was actually on the air —Denis Johnston, Irish Digest, June 1954 • Rose really meant what she said. She was actually beginning to forget —C. S. Forester, The African Queen, 1935 • "... but as I have actually paid the visit, we cannot escape the acquaintance now." —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813 • Actually he was less angry than perplexed —Jean Stafford, The Mountain Lion, 1947 • ... how to obtain a cooperative apartment without actually cheating —Richard Schickel, Harper's, February 1971 It may be used to suggest something unexpected: • Now they were off... , leaving Jason standing and actually waving —Rita Madocs, Ladies' Home Jour., September 1971 • I had been actually invited —F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 1925 • ... Mother Goose (a real person actually named Mary Goose) —American Guide Series: Massachusetts, 1937 Of course any of these uses would be normal in speech, too. But in conversation the sense may be weakened or even absent, and it is presumably this use that has occasioned censure of actually as unnecessary. When its semantic content is low, actually may be serving a special purpose in conversation—that of a filler (see fillers)—as Phythian 1979 and Bremner 1980 observe (in different terms). "Actually is usually used to give the speaker a moment in which to think," says Phythian. The filler actually is likely to be syntactically a sentence adverb, and it is probably this use that Evans 1957 characterizes as "a worn-out import from England." There is no strong evidence on which to base the supposition that it is an import. As a sentence adverb, actually is typically found at the beginning or sometimes in the middle of an utterance in American use, and at the end of an utterance in British use: • Actually, if we weren't so worried about forcing independence on them, they would be less likely to beat us over the head with it —Bruno Bettelheim, Ladies' Home Jour., January 1971 • Actually, the people who truly are Mrs. Lieberman's dearest friends are a great deal like her —John Corry, Harper's, February 1971 • Because I've seen some of the recent criticisms—the continuing criticism, actually—of the statistics — William Ruckelshaus, quoted in N.Y. Times Mag., 19 Aug. 1973 • ... he didn't fall about laughing, he helped me a lot actually —Saffron Summerfield, quoted in Spare Rib (London), December 1974 • As much a Wykeham Diary as a Langham Diary, actually —Alan Ryan, The Listener, 28 Mar. 1974 Conclusion: criticism of actual and actually as unnecessary is of very limited value in a usage handbook. The usages criticized are primarily spoken, and few people trouble to chasten their speech in accordance with the pronouncements found in usage books addressed to writers. Both actual and actually have legitimate uses in writing, which have been illustrated here. It can be argued that in many instances they can be omitted from sentences in which they appear without changing the sense; but if you will read the sentences quoted without the actual or actually, you will find in very many cases that something is missing, that actual or actually is far from useless in context. Where these words do not add much to meaning, they often improve the rhythm of a sentence and help set off the more important words effectively. Judicious use of these and many words of similar function can be a mark of a smooth and understandable style. The tersest message is not always the most readily understood. |
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