| 词组 | alumnus, alumna |
| 释义 | alumnus, alumna 1. As any dictionary will tell you, alumna is pluralized alumnae; alumnus is pluralized alumni. These words have not developed English plurals. Alumna is used for female graduates and alumnus for males, although it is sometimes used also of women. Alumni is the form usually used for a mixed bag of graduates of both sexes. Janis 1984 points out that the clipped form alum (not to be confused with the chemical compound of the same spelling) is available to those who feel that alumni is not sufficiently asexual or those who have trouble spelling Latin: • ... second-guessing from undergrads and die-hard alums —Edwin McDowell, Wall Street Jour., 5 Dec. 1972 • ... join the 951 alums who have put, or are planning to put, Randolph-Macon in their wills —Carolyn Morrison Barton, Randolph-Macon Woman's College Alumnae Bulletin, Winter 1971 Alumnus is also used for a former member, employee, inmate, or contributor of any of a number of institutions: • In fact, I still get the 69th Division alumni bulletin or whatever it's called —Frank Mankiewicz, quoted in The Washingtonian, October 1978 • ... the Liverpool Repertory Company, whose alumni include Sir Michael Redgrave and Rex Harrison —Current Biography, October 1965 • ... Saturday Night Live alumnus Michael O'Dono-ghue —Timothy White, Rolling Stone, 24 July 1980 Alumna is not unknown in this use, but is fairly rare: • ... another debutante, albeit a Lee Strasberg alumna, whose Cecilia is teary-eyed vapidity — Judith Crist, Saturday Rev., 11 Dec. 1976 • ... widowed, loaded, an alumna of analysis and a veteran of A.A. —Martin Levin, N. Y. Times Book Rev., 16 Mar. 1975 2. The use of alumni as a singular is called substandard by Copperud. Our only genuine evidence of straightforward use is from speech: • ... another UCLA alumni —Frank Gifford, football telecast, 12 Nov. 1984 It has also been used facetiously: • As a loyal alumni, you'll be aghast to know that the head football coach has to get by on just $96,000 a year —Jeff Millar & Bill Hinds, "Tank McNamara" (cartoon), Boston Globe, 24 Jan. 1982 |
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