| 词组 | basically |
| 释义 | basically 1. Copperud 1970 notes that what he calls the "correct form" of the adverb—basicly—although sometimes seen in print, is unrecognized by dictionaries. Our evidence for the spelling is very slight: a 1916 issue of Scientific American, a book on criminology published in 1942, and a book in linguistics from 1953. Correspondents wrote in to us in 1921 and 1927 suggesting the word be entered in our dictionaries. For some reason the spelling simply has not caught on, even though it is etymologically impeccable. Since dictionaries do not enter what is not used, basicly seems doomed to continue unrecognized. 2. Several British commentators—Bryson 1984, Phythian 1979, Longman 1984, and Howard 1978—object to what they consider to be the unnecessary use of basically. From the scanty evidence they supply, it would appear that they chiefly object to the use of basically as a sentence adverb. A couple of American commentators, Nickles 1974 and Macmillan 1982, join the British. The construction in question seems to be primarily a spoken one: • Basically, the sun excites the crystalline structure of the cell —Ray Morgan, quoted in Smithsonian, February 1981 • Shock basically means that your legs and arms are getting no circulating blood anymore —Dr. Thomas E. Root, quoted in N.Y. Times Mag., 19 Sept. 1982 This construction also appears in edited prose, however: • Basically, it is an index of names and topics; it is not a concordance —Times Literary Supp., 14 Nov. 1968 • Basically, we try to test and report on cars that are most widely sold —Consumer Reports, April 1977 • Basically, he's a God-fearing, red-blooded all-American boy who feels strongly about a lot of things — Ahmad Rashad, Sports Illustrated, 25 Oct. 1982 • ... the doctors told me I would need an operation I basically had no choice —Edward J. Rollins, People, 22 Aug. 1983 • Basically, the cursor shows you where you are — National Shorthand Reporter, July 1985 "Nineteen sentences out of twenty in which basically appears would be sharpened by its deletion," says Howard. Well, maybe so. But the rigorous pursuit of excising basically does not look like an important path to better prose. Basically, as it is used in the examples here, is one of those little space-makers carried over from speech to speech-like prose; it does not seem to be so heinous a fault in the kind of prose in which it appears. You will notice that none of the examples above is of the high style—no deep discussions of political philosophy, religion, or literature here. In breezy journalistic writing an occasional basically will not hurt, but it should not be overdone. |
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