| 词组 | between |
| 释义 | between 1. Between, among. James A. H. Murray in the OED says it as clearly and succinctly as anyone: "It [between] is still the only word available to express the relation of a thing to many surrounding things severally and individually, among expressing a relation to them collectively and vaguely." Still, the unfounded notion that between can be used of only two items persists, most perniciously, perhaps, in schoolbooks. The notion has its origin in the etymology of between—the -tween derives from an Old English form related to the Old English word for "two"; Samuel Johnson in his Dictionary (1755) took note of it. "Between is properly used of two, and among of more," he wrote, but being aware of actual use he added "but perhaps this accuracy is not always preserved." He himself did not always preserve this accuracy: • ... and sincerely hope, that between public business, improving studies, and domestic pleasures, neither melancholy nor caprice will find any place for entrance —Samuel Johnson, letter to James Boswell, 20 June 1771 Noah Webster in 1828 included in his definition of between: "We observe that between is not restricted to two." The originators of the restriction to two, then, ignored the evidence of the two most famous dictionaries of that time. Our earliest evidence for the prescribed restriction to two comes from Goold Brown's Grammar of English Grammars (1851). Goold Brown, who was not shy about admitting his superior intellectual powers, skewered an earlier grammarian (T. O. Churchill, 1823) for writing "between more than two": "This is a misapplication of the word between, which cannot have reference to more than two " Another early proponent of the restriction is William B. Hodgson ( 1881 ), a Scot who was very fond of finding the correct meaning of English words in their roots—his usual favorites being Greek and Latin. Hodgson is aware of Johnson and Webster, both of whom he relegates to a footnote. As early as 1917 (MacCracken & Sandison), however, we find between being admitted as usable for more than two; the great majority of usage commentators since have followed the lines pointed out in the OED definition. But there are a few holdouts for Goold Brown's position: the Harper 1975 usage panel, Simon 1980, Einstein 1985, Sellers 1975, Safire 1982, Bander 1978, and an occasional Schoolbook (Building English Skills, orange level, 1982) among them. What of actual use? The OED shows citations for between used of more than two from 971 to 1885; we ourselves have citations from 1303 to 1985. The usage is better than a thousand years old; the attempt to restrict to two, if we take Goold Brown as the originator, less than a century and a half. Actually, the enormous amount of ink spilled in the explication of the subtleties of between and among has been largely a waste; it is difficult for a native speaker of English who is not distracted by irrelevant considerations to misuse the two words. One of the major distractions is, in fact, excessive concern for number. For instance, Einstein 1985 applauds a "correct use of among'''' in a sentence commenting on the ability of certain pianists to play together without interference "to a degree that must have been unique among pianists." In this instance the writer could hardly have been wrong: no native speaker of English would use between in such a construction. Here is a generous handful of examples of between used idiomatically of three or more or used with a plural noun, often of indeterminate number. Some are old (we have already met Dr. Johnson) and some are more recent. For the use of between with a singular noun, see the next section. Phœbus was Judge betweene Jove, Mars, and Love — Sir Philip Sidney, Astrophel and Stella, 1591 • This, of course, is between our three discreet selves —Jane Austen, letter, 11 Oct. 1813 • Of course that's between you and me and Jack Mum —Myles na gCopaleen (Flann O'Brien), The Best of Myles, 1968 • ... loosely, it applies to a choice between two or more —MacCracken & Sandison 1917 • ... a choice between more than two things or decisions —Partridge 1942 • There were three different conclusions to be drawn from his silence, between which her mind was in fluctuation —Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814 • All the difference in the world, Dinny, between the 'buck,' the 'dandy,' the 'swell,' the 'masher,' the 'blood,' the 'nut,' and what's the last variety called —John Galsworthy, Flowering Wilderness, 1932 • ... those who have not time to choose between possession, gain, advantage, resource, & other synonyms —Fowler 1926 (s.v. asset) • Undoubtedly there is something in common between the three (Dante, Chaucer, Villon) —T. S. Eliot, "Dante," in Selected Essays, 1932 • ... the relation between grammar, Latin, and social power —Robert Pattison, On Literacy, 1982 • ... under the shadowing trees between whose tops looked down from afar the bold brow of some wooded bluff —Francis Parkman, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, 1869 • The real basis for distinguishing between levels of usage —Barnard 1979 • Between doing all these things I read an advertisement that amused me —Randall Jarrell, letter, May 1952 • Between the mountains that cradled the yard there seemed to be thousands of freight cars —Russell Baker, Growing Up, 1982 Here a few examples of among: • Also, could the children be let alone while I talk to them, and not have (...) people going about among them, stirring up the inattentive ones —Lewis Carroll, letter, 2 Sept. 1897 • My mother came home with that [joke] the other day. She circulates among all and sundry —Flannery O'Connor, letter, 1 Dec. 1957 • ... the tribes of north-west Germany were continuously on the move; such movements probably contributed to the diminution of racial distinctions among them —D. J. V. Fisher, The Anglo-Saxon Age, 1973 • ... it is no mere happenstance that Dilsey, alone among the four central figures ... is seen from the outside —William Styron, This Quiet Dust and Other Writings, 1982 Between is not a possibility in any of these except perhaps the Fisher example, where among nonetheless does not seem at all forced. In the following example, note how between emphasizes differences between one person and each of a number of others, or the whole of them collectively, while among shows an indefinite relationship within the group: • ... it is doubtful whether the differences between Burchfield and the Americans are greater than the differences among the Americans themselves — Robert F. Ilson, in Greenbaum 1985 The following examples of among show signs of its having been chosen strictly on the basis of referring to more than two. The first was criticized by Theodore Bernstein in Winners & Sinners: • The psychiatrist said under cross-examination ... that he would include simultaneous intercourse among two men and a woman—a scene shown in the film—in the category of normal —N. Y. Times, 30 Dec. 1972 • There is an interesting discussion of language ... among Professor Ross, Richard Buckle (...), and Philip Howard —Simon 1980 • ... is a worthy book that nevertheless falls among many stools —John Simon, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 14 Oct. 1979 • ... the author alternates among mod slang, clichés and quotes from literary giants —Albert H. Johnston, Publishers Weekly, 24 July 1978 We suggest that in choosing between among and between you are going to be better off following your own instincts than trying to follow someone else's theory of what is correct. Our final exhibit shows one pre-scriber of usage laying down the law and then following his own instincts. • among, between:Among may apply to any number; between applies to two only —Vizetelly 1906, p. 14 • bring, carry, fetch: Discriminate carefully between these words —Vizetelly 1906, p. 40 • contemptible, contemptibly, contemptuous, contemptuously: Discriminate carefully between these words —Vizetelly 1906, p. 55 2. Between each, between every: between with a singular noun. Fowler 1926 says "B[etween]... must not be followed by a single expression in which a distributive such as each or every is supposed to represent a plural." One might well ask why not? Fowler does not tell us. Evans 1961 is more expansive: • But, actually, each is what is called a "distributive." That is, it refers to an individual but only in its quality as a member of a group. There is always a plural in mind when we say each.... When we say "between each," as in "He rested between each stroke," we are saying by elision, "He rested between each stroke and the next one." And the language permits elision. Evans goes on to point out that the expression has been used from Shakespeare to John Mason Brown and "must be accepted as idiomatic English." The question of this construction goes back long before Fowler to the 18th century; Leonard 1929 mentions Robert Baker's comment on it in 1779. And it continues into the 19th: Hodgson 1889 lists examples of between each and between every from the 1860s among his examples of errors, including this one from the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell: • Where, between every stitch, she could look up and see what was going on in the street —Mr. Harrison's Confessions, 1866 The construction does go back as far as Shakespeare: • Between each kiss her oaths of true love swearing — The Passionate Pilgrim, 1599 Hall 1917 lists—besides Shakespeare—Jeremy Taylor, Pope, Fielding, Goldsmith, Coleridge, Scott, the historian Motley, Dickens, and George Eliot as authors in whose works he found the construction. He quotes two instances from Adam Bede: • ... pausing between every sentence to rap the floor ... • ... said Mr. Poyser, turning his head on one side in a dubitative manner, and giving a precautionary puff to his pipe between each sentence. Volume 2 of Jespersen's Modern English Grammar quotes Dickens in addition: • ... with a shake of her head between every rapid sentence —A Tale of Two Cities Jane Austen, in one of her letters, provides the following breathless example: • ... & after them succeeded Mrs. White, Mrs. Hughes & her two children, Mr. Moore, Harriot & Louisa, & John Bridges, with such short intervals between any, as to make it a matter of wonder to me, that Mrs. K. & I ever should have ten minutes alone —letter, 26 June 1808 We judge that even though Fowler dislikes it, Nickles 1974 thinks it an illiteracy, and Freeman 1983 and others think it illogical, between each (every) is, as Evans 1961 asserts, an acceptable idiom. Too many literary lights have used it to allow any other conclusion. 3. Copperud 1970, Corder 1981, Freeman 1983, Fowler 1926, and others point out that when two (or more) items are enumerated after between, the connective used should be and, not or or to. And is, in fact, the connective usually chosen. |
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