| 词组 | seasonable, seasonal |
| 释义 | seasonable, seasonal Whereas seasonable means "suitable to the season" (seasonable temperatures, seasonable clothes), seasonal means "of or relating to a season; occurring in a particular season" (seasonal migration, seasonal employment). So say the usage writers, and, according to our evidence, they speak the truth on this matter. We do have some evidence of seasonable being used where seasonal would be expected, but such usage is extremely rare. The OED Supplement has a few citations for this use (which it labels erroneous), and our own files provide two more: • "Work in the General Motors plants here is seasonable at best," he went on —TV. Y. Times, 12 Apr. 1937 • ... the business is less seasonable than in most other countries —An Exhibition of Swiss Books, February, March, April 1953 This use of seasonable is nonstandard. Seasonal is sometimes used to mean "seasonable" as well, but this use is also nonstandard. Although it occurs fairly commonly in television and radio weather reports, we have yet to encounter it in writing. Also to be considered, however, are the words unseasonable and unseasonal, which, as it happens, are synonyms. Unseasonable is the more common word by far, and it means just what you would expect it to, "not seasonable." Unseasonal, however, seems never to have meant "not seasonal." All of our evidence shows unseasonal being used to mean "not seasonable," as in the following citations: • ... late spring frosts and unseasonal rains —Time, 10 Dec. 1945 • ... adjourned happily into the unseasonal Long Island sunshine —Time, 17 Jan. 1949 • ... in which to store potatoes, cotton, tobacco and the few unseasonal clothes —Max Steele, Discovery, March 1954 Make no mistake, however—unseasonal is a very rare word. Usage writers have not even noticed it. If they had, you can be sure they would have called it an error. |
| 随便看 |
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。