| 词组 | want |
| 释义 | want Several informal idioms with want are commonly cited with disapproval in usage handbooks. The most frequent admonitions are against the use of such a construction as "I want for you to do this" instead of "I want you to do this." This "want for" construction appears to be limited to informal speech; we have found no evidence of it in published sources. It should not be confused with the use of want for to mean "lack," which is standard: • The museum will never want for relics of Lewes' colorful history —Jay Dugan, Ford Times, March 1955 • No one in the movie wants for anything but love — Pauline Kael, New Yorker, 3 Feb. 1973 Also standard, as Heritage 1982 points out, are such constructions as "What I want is for you to do this" and "I want very much for you to do this," in which the clause introduced by for does not follow immediately after want: • ... she very much wanted, we all did, for him to succeed —Mary Jane Truman, quoted in Merle Miller, Plain Speaking, 1973 A related issue concerns the use of want with a clause introduced by that as its object: • They wanted that the debts due them should be paid, or payable, in gold —Mark Sullivan, Our Times, vol. 6, 1935 Again, such usage appears to be limited almost entirely to speech. The normal written construction would be "They wanted the debts due them to be paid " As with the "want for" construction, however, the use of want with a that clause is standard when the clause does not immediately follow the verb; for example, "What they wanted was that the debts due them should be paid " Want is sometimes used as a virtual synonym of ought: • You want to be very careful what you say about such music —Claudia Cassidy, Europe—On the Aisle, 1954 • You want to buy three yards of each color material selected —Robert J. Pearcy, Cats Mag., January 1982 • ... you want to have a large, impressive bandage — James Gorman, People, 21 Mar. 1983 The informality of such usage has attracted frequent commentary, dating back at least to Ball 1923. The usual judgment has been that it is best avoided in writing. In informal writing, however, it is neither uncommon nor inappropriate. See also want in, want out. |
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