| 词组 | they |
| 释义 | they 1. For they used to refer to a singular noun or pronoun, see they, their, them. 2. They used as an indefinite subject is sometimes objected to, primarily on the assumption that every pronoun should have an antecedent. Lamberts 1972 calls that assumption shaky, as indeed it is, since many pronouns do not require antecedents. Perrin & Ebbitt 1972 reports that indefinite they occurs in all varieties of usage. It is standard. Here is a sample of its uses: • In Lagos, they were sleeping in the streets —John Updike, Bech Is Back, 1982 • In seventh grade they were always assigning you to write about things like farm produce —Russell Baker, Growing Up, 1982 • They're tearing down a nine-story building just outside my office window —And More by Andy Rooney, 1982 • They say Freddy plays only when he wants to — Sparky Anderson, quoted in Springfield (Mass.) Morning Union, 10 Jan. 1985 • They say he kept a whore in the White House, but I don't suppose I ought to say that —Harry S. Truman, quoted in Merle Miller, Plain Speaking, 1973 3. They as a pronunciation spelling of there goes back as far as 1799 (the earliest occurrence we have seen is in a citation for an't in the Dictionary of American English). In this century it has been used chiefly to represent dialectal or uneducated speech: • They's also a ballroom and a couple card rooms — Ring Lardner, The Big Town, 1921 |
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