| 词组 | Reverend, Rev. |
| 释义 | Reverend, Rev. Concern over the proper use of Reverend and its abbreviation Rev. in addressing American Protestant clergymen goes back at least to Richard Grant White 1870; it has continued unabated in usage books, etiquette books, and the public prints ever since. The usual prescriptions can be easily summed up: Reverend is an adjective; it is not a title; it should be preceded by the; it should be followed by a surname or a title such as Dr. or Mr.; therefore, it is wrong to address a clergyman, as President Reagan did in 1981, as "Reverend Moomaw." A few usage books, such as Reader's Digest 1983, Copperud 1980, and Harper 1975, 1985, acknowledge that these prescriptions do not reflect actual usage and that many American Protestant denominations do not follow them. (The prescriptions reflect primarily the practice of the Church of England and American Episcopalians.) The prescriptions have a couple of other weaknesses, for Reverend is in fact used as a title, and it is also used as a noun (and has been since the 17th century). This is primarily an American problem because of history: the forms prescribed now did not come into use in England until the 18th century, and early English settlers in this country brought the older prevailing practice—in which the was omitted regularly and the surname omitted at least some of the time. So early American Protestant practice continued forms that later went out of style in England. There seems to be considerably greater acceptance of such forms as "Reverend Moomaw" than most authorities recognize. The Harper usage panel, for instance, gave 50 percent acceptance to the omission of the, 45 percent acceptance to the omission of the surname, and 40 percent acceptance to Reverend by itself as a form of address. Reader's Digest says many churches freely use those forms. If you are trying to be really careful, then, you will need to learn the preferred or accepted forms for the church in question, perhaps by, as Reader's Digest suggests, asking your own clergyman. In a pinch you can probably make do with the old prescribed forms. The abbreviation Rev. is subjected to the same restrictions as Reverend by most of the usage books. But as these three examples show, heterodox usage is as well entrenched for the abbreviation as it is for Reverend: • Rev. John Hayes of Salem or Rev. W. Wolcott of this city will answer questions with regard to me — Robert Frost, letter, 11 Sept. 1897 • ... Rev. Harris was Chaplain for the Senate when I was V.P. —Harry S. Truman, diary, 8 Feb. 1948 • The release of Rev. Jenco did little to mitigate their unhappiness —The Tower Commission Report, 1987 There is, clearly, acceptable usage other than that prescribed in most of the stylebooks, handbooks, and etiquette books. Again, this is really a matter of etiquette more than linguistic propriety, and the preference of the clergy involved should be taken into account if it can be determined. More detail will be found in Harper 1975, 1985. There are several pages of historical material on the subject in Mencken 1963 (abridged), and an extensive treatment appears in "Speaking of the Clergy" by Lillian M. Feinsilver in American Speech, Summer 1983. (She even finds variation in the forms of addressing American Jewish clergy.) |
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英语用法大全包含2888条英语用法指南，基本涵盖了全部常用英文词汇及语法点的翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。