| 词组 | in terms of |
| 释义 | in terms of In terms of is a compound preposition that seems to have taken hold only after World War II. It apparently struck a responsive chord, for we have many examples of its use from the early 1950s. It also appears to be habit-forming; we have many cases of multiple examples having been drawn from the same writer in the same book or article. It did not take long to draw unfriendly attention: the editor of the Journal of Communication disapproved it in 1954. The usage books have followed suit: Bernstein 1962, 1965, Copperud 1964, 1970, 1980, Follett 1966, Strunk & White 1979, Macmillan 1982, Montgomery & Stratton 1981, Janis 1984, Guth 1985, and Trimmer & McCrimmon 1988 all dislike the phrase. The usual advice is to omit it or to substitute a simple preposition for it. You are warned, however, that you cannot make such a change—at least in the sentences we have collected— without additional revision or without altering the meaning of the passage somewhat. Guth's characterization of in terms of as "a vague all-purpose connective" is fairly accurate. It seems to be one of those terms whose imprecision is its greatest virtue—writers don't always want to be precise. It may have had its origin in mathematical uses like this one: • To add or subtract unlike fractions it is necessary first to express the given fractions in terms of a common denominator —Robert W. Marks, The New Mathematics Dictionary and Handbook, 1964 It is certainly common enough in mathematics—where it is not imprecise—and probably has been for quite some time. This is speculation, however; our earliest citations for it are not mathematical. We give you here a selection of actual uses of the phrase. We find no single easy way to replace in terms of in them. • Of course Clark, Charlie and all the rest of my good friends are thinking in terms of 1948—and I'm not —Harry S. Truman, letter, 20 Sept. 1946 • ... the method is delightfully remote from academicism, and the theme comes to life in terms of people and wagons, horses and dogs —Times Literary Supp., 28 Dec. 1951 • And so McCarthy in the hearings saw all issues and conditions in terms of himself —Michael Straight, New Republic, 28 June 1954 • ... a scheme for an orderly arrangement of the elementary particles. The particles were described in terms of eight quantum numbers —Current Biography, February 1966 • ... he has no thought of overdoing the simple life; he is thinking in terms of £500 a year, with a few good servants and horses —James Sutherland, English Literature of the Late Seventeenth Century, 1969 • Pointlessly exploring your pockets, you come up with a small glass vial, Tad's gift. In terms of improving your mood, this might be just what the doctor ordered —Jay Mclnerney, Bright Lights, Big City, 1984 • Darman meant that the President did not think in terms of more than one year at a time —David A. Stockman, Newsweek, 28 Apr. 1986 |
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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。