| 词组 | something |
| 释义 | something The adverb something, synonymous with somewhat, is now something less of an adverb than it once was. In previous centuries, it was used in ways that made its adverbial nature unmistakable: • There is one Bill ordered to be brought in of a something new nature —Andrew Marvell, letter, 1666 (OED) • I shall be something relieved of a load of sorrow which oppressed me —Thomas Holcroft, Tales of the Castle, 1785 (OED) • "Answer for thyself, Friar," said King Richard, something sternly —Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, 1819 Now, however, it prefers to keep a low profile. The OED notes that it "chiefly survives in contexts which admit of the word being felt as a noun." Here are some examples of typical current use: • ... have to pay nonresidence entrance fees, averaging something over $300 —Frank J. Taylor, Saturday Evening Post, 24 May 1958 • The argument goes something like this —Robert M. Gorrell, in The College Teaching of English, ed. John C. Gerber, 1965 • The critical response ... was something less than enthusiastic —Current Biography, May 1966 • Something more than two centuries later —Gorham Munson, Southern Rev., April 1970 Another, stranger, use of the adverb something is as an intensive modifying an adjective such as awful, fierce, and terrible, when the adjective is being used adverbially. A confusing description, perhaps, but here is an example of what we are talking about: • ... they cried and took on something terrible until I removed my wig —Bob Hope, Saturday Evening Post, 10 Apr. 1951 The main function of something in such a context seems to be to give adverbial force to the adjective, so that "something terrible" is really just another way of saying "terribly." This use of something is rare in writing. |
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