| 词组 | allow |
| 释义 | allow 1. Vizetelly 1906 and Bierce 1909 make an issue of distinguishing between allow and permit; they both insist that permit is better for the giving of express consent or authorization and would restrict allow to uses where no objection or prevention is attempted. Shaw 1975 follows Vizetelly's interpretation, and the Oxford American Dictionary assures us that careful writers observe the distinction. Good writers, however, do as seems best to them, and while some observe the distinction, others do not. Here are some examples of allow in its senses that are close to permit. With a personal subject, in the active voice: • Whether his relationship with the Duchess was anything more than the last platonic imbroglio of an eccentric and slightly senile old codger Mr. Hough does not allow himself to contemplate —Times Literary Supp., 18 Dec. 1969 • I tried to leave, but they wouldn't allow it —E. L. Doctorow, Loon Lake, 1979 • The trial judge allowed testimony by the ... officer —Security World, November 1969 • Having promised the government... to stay off the streets, they did not allow a single incident —Tad Szulc, N.Y. Times, 9 Jan. 1969 • ... he allowed everyone to believe... that American participation in the war was not inevitable —Times Literary Supp., 9 Apr. 1970 In the passive voice: • This they must not be allowed to do! —Joseph Miller, Not Man Apart, July 1971 • ... how rapidly the economy can be allowed to expand —Robert M. Solow, Think, May-June 1967 • After Eisenhower pleaded with him, Roosevelt said De Gaulle could be brought from Algiers to London and allowed to broadcast —Stephen E. Ambrose, Johns Hopkins Mag., April 1966 With an impersonal subject: • ... the menu, which allowed each astronaut 2,500 calories a day —Current Biography, November 1965 • The catwalk was too narrow to allow them to step back from the tank at all —Paul Horgan, Ladies' Home Jour., January 1971 • ... a routine surgical procedure to unblock his esophagus and allow him to eat —Ronald Reagan, Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation, 1984 2. Allow of. The intransitive allow, used with of, has excited the disapproval of Copperud 1964, but it is perfectly reputable. Reader's Digest 1983 accepts allow of with an impersonal subject, but not with a personal one. Our evidence for use with a personal subject is old; impersonal subjects predominate in current usage. • ... I consented at the request of Lyell and Hooker to allow of an abstract from my manuscript ... to be published —Charles Darwin, reprinted in The Practical Cogitator, ed. Charles P. Curtis, Jr. & Ferris Greenslet, 1945 • ... the real charm of the 1930's bushwah Communism was the set of fine amateur theatricals it allowed of later —G. Legman, The Fake Revolt, 1967 • It takes a very sophisticated man to admit that the world is run by forces that do not always allow of rational analysis —G. R. Urban, Center Mag., January 1969 • The past is the proper study of autobiography, for it allows of tranquil recollection —John Simon, in The Film, 1968 See also admit 3; permit of. 3. The Dictionary of American Regional English lists four senses of allow with regional connections, some of which have come under attack as misuses, village idioms, vulgarisms, or provincialisms. We will take them up in order of increasing complexity. "To plan, intend" (DARE sense 4). The DARE labels this sense chiefly Southern and Midland. They cite examples from Mark Twain, Bret Harte, Edward Eggleston. In this sense, allow is regularly followed by to and the infinitive: • "I allowed to go back and help," Ellen said —Elizabeth Madox Roberts (born in Kentucky), The Time of Man, 1926 "To admit, concede" (DARE sense 3). This sense is mostly mainstream; it is not labeled in Webster's Third or in the OED. It has a considerable literary background: • You'll allow, that nothing receives infection sooner, or retains it longer, than blankets, feather-beds, and mattresses —Tobias Smollett, reprinted in Encore, November 1944 • Those were your words.... it was some time, I confess, before I was reasonable enough to allow their justice —Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice, 1813 • "Slay him not, Sir Knight," cried the Grand Master, "We allow him vanquished." —Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, 1819 • ... I flatter myself, that it will be allowed that I, at least, am a moral man —W. M. Thackeray, The Book of Snobs, 1846 • ... one must allow that Pierre's promise of allegiance was kept —Henry Adams, Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres, 1904 This sense continues to be used in mainstream English, usually, as earlier, followed by a clause: • ... asked if "Time and Time Again" would have a sequel, as rumored, he allowed it might —John K. Hutchens, N. Y. Herald Tribune Book Rev., 27 Sept. 1953 . • Epstein allows that the priest was on the right track — Time, 14 Mar. 1955 • Do ordinary people have more sense than professionals ordinarily allow? —Nature, 20 Sept. 1969 • We must ... allow that economic pressure in itself can be generally disruptive —Elizabeth Janeway, Atlantic, March 1970 The DARE remarks that its senses 1 ("to suppose, think, consider") and 2 ("to assert, remark, opine, declare") are often hard to distinguish; some books, like the OED and Reader's Digest 1983, do not try to distinguish them. Sense 1 is marked chiefly Southern and Midland; 2 is not labeled, indicating widespread dialectal use. When someone holds an opinion and expresses it, you cannot with certainty assign the use to either sense—it is a blend of the two. It is this blended use that is the most common in our files, and it sometimes takes most peculiar turns. First, we show a couple of examples that mean merely "say." These are both from the correspondence of Flannery O'Connor, a Georgian who used many regional expressions in her letters: • My uncle Louis allowed he saw you the other day but you didn't see him —letter, 1 June 1957 • ... she allowed that they were going to query Rodgers and Hammerstein —letter, 9 Mar. 1957 She also used allow in the blended sense: • ... heard Willard Thorpe read a paper on "The Grotesque in Southern Literature." He (Thorpe) allowed as how the roots of it were in antebellum Southern writings —letter, 10 Dec. 1957 • ... she allowed as how she liked the book —letter, 24 Jan. 1962 We have evidence of Canadian use too—or at least use by Canadian-born authors: • They all allowed it was the most splendid thing in the world —Thomas C. Haliburton, The Clock-maker, 1837 • "That," he allowed, beaming, "is my favorite city in the United States." —Mordecai Richler, Saturday Rev., 8 Jan. 1977 And by an Indiana native, not noted for his use of regional terms: • ... the meritorious critic, P. P. Howe, thinks otherwise and allows it was Wilde's utter disinterest — George Jean Nathan, The Theatre Book of the Year, 1946-1947 But it is the use in widely distributed newspapers and magazines with no smack of the regional about them that is puzzling. Winners & Sinners disapproves this use: • While he never disparaged Mr. Hoover, he allowed that the late founder of the Federal Bureau of Investigation "was a man of the old school." —N.Y. Times, 20 May 1975 But many similar uses appear in the Times and elsewhere, and they seem to be deliberate rather than inadvertant: • Brunot allowed as how a certain number of sets could be sold by mail —Bennett Cerf, Saturday Rev., 21 Mar. 1953 • Harry Truman met the press, felt the cloth of a reporter's cord suit and allowed as how he had one just like it —Time, 29 June 1953 • Renée Simmons, a 7-year-old..., shyly allowed that the roller skates were the best thing she had come across —Lisa Hammel, N. Y. Times, 7 July 1967 • ... my faculty critic allowed as how the topic of drug use was a timely one —Robert J. Armbruster, Johns Hopkins Mag., Spring 1971 • Premier Chou expressed cordiality toward the United States but allowed as how neither he nor ... Mao Tse-tung, who is studying English, are planning American visits —John Hughes, Christian Science Monitor, 10 Oct. 1972 • All allowed that they liked it all right —John Fischer, Harper's, November 1972 • Sounding like Polonius, Papp went on to allow that anything the British can do, we can do better —Karl E. Meyer, Saturday Rev., 22 July 1978 • ... and Imogene Glover allowed as how she was intending to buy her son a sleeveless sweater —Enid Nemy, N.Y. Times, 12 Aug. 1980 • Any hardwood will do, Henry allows, but hop hornbeam ... is preferable —Nancy Means Wright, Blair & Ketchum's Country Jour., November 1980 Reader's Digest 1983 quotes William Safire: • Nixon allowed as how the best way to knock Romney down in the polls was to remove his winner status by beating him in New Hampshire —Before the Fall with the observation that allow as how is being used for a mildly satirical effect. But there has to be more to it than that in our examples above—what would be the point, for instance, of satirizing, no matter how mildly, a 7-year-old girl on roller skates? The picture is further complicated when the "concede, admit" sense is combined with "say," as it is rather frequently: • Riots conceivably are a good thing, Banfield allows, but we can't be very sure of that —Richard Todd, Atlantic, September 1970 • ... admits that the $5,000-per-couple tariff is fairly steep, and stands to net First Metropolitan a neat profit. "It's priced to reflect the uniqueness of the tour," he allows —Bruce McEwen, quoted by Robert Levy in Dun's, October 1971 • The official cleared his throat and allowed as how that was so —William H. Honan, Saturday Rev., May 1973 • ... a chastened Beutel allowed as how he wanted to return —Gary Paul Gates, TV Guide, 24 Aug. 1979 • ... admitted he had been scared up there. But then he allowed as how he is always scared in the wind — Jim Doherty, Sports Illustrated, 11 Aug. 1980 Conclusion: Allow "intend" (I allowed to help) is chiefly Southern and Midland; allow "concede" (You must allow that ... ) has dialectal use but also much mainstream use, of which there is a long tradition; allow "say" (Uncle Louis allows he saw you) is dialectal; allow "suppose, think" (We allowed you wasn't coming) is chiefly Southern and Midland and somewhat old-fashioned. But when allow "say" combines with allow "think" or allow "concede," we seem to have something different. Allow that and allow as how have escaped from the bottle of regionalisms into general prose; they seem to be used, especially by journalists, as leavening to help in the creation of a light, informal style. While allow "concede" can be found in very serious writing— • It is allowed that Hegel may have propounded individual doctrines which could be of some interest: in aesthetics, in political philosophy, perhaps even in philosophy of religion —Times Literary Supp., 19 June 1969 —allow "state as an opinion or concession" especially with as how cannot. The current use of allow as how is somewhat similar to the use of ain't in some of its fixed phrases, for both are signs of a style that aims not to impress but to charm with just-plain-folksiness. If you are unsure of how to use these expressions through unfa-miliarity, or are simply not comfortable with them, we suggest you avoid them. But they are available to be used for the purposes described and in contexts like those quoted above. See also as how. |
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