| 词组 | won't |
| 释义 | won't Won't is one of the most irregular looking of the negative contractions that came into popular use during the 17th century and into print around the 1660s (others include an't, han't, don't, and shan't). Won't was shortened from earlier wonnot, which in turn was formed from woll (or wot), a variant form of will, and not. It appeared in various forms in Restoration comedies: • No, no, that won't do —Thomas Shadwell, The Sullen Lovers, 1668 • We'll thrust you out, if you wo'not —William Wycherly, The Country Wife, 1675 • But wo't thou really marry her? —Aphra Behn, The Dutch Lover, 1673 • Why, you wont baulk the Frollick? —William Con-greve, The Double-Dealer, 1694 Won't was among the contracted and truncated forms that Joseph Addison attacked in The Spectator on 4 August 1711. It seems to have been under something of a cloud, as far as the right-thinkers were concerned, for more than a century afterward. This did not, of course, interfere with its employment, and it was common enough to enjoy the distinction of being damned in the same breath as ain't in an address delivered before the Newburyport (Mass.) Female High School in December 1846, as reported by Shirley Brice Heath in Shopen & Williams 1980. The speaker termed both "absolutely vulgar." How won't eventually escaped the odium that still clings to ain't is a mystery, but today it is entirely acceptable. A few modern writers—William Faulkner and George Bernard Shaw come readily to mind—have followed the example of Congreve and omitted the apostrophe, but by far the usual styling in current English is to retain it. See also ain't. |
| 随便看 |
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。