| 词组 | like for |
| 释义 | like for Like for is a particular instance of the case where a verb takes an infinitive clause as its object and the clause is introduced by for. Jespersen 1909-49 (vol. 5) presents examples of many verbs so complementized, but only a single example of like for, from a novel by George Eliot. George Eliot put it in the mouth of a Warwickshire character, and we presume the like for was intended to be dialectal. Here is an example typical of American use: • I'd like for you to go ahead —Jesse Stuart, Beyond Dark Hills, 1938 (in American Dialect Dictionary) American commentators seem to have picked out the combination like for because it is fairly common in spoken American English. From the evidence we have— mostly from the ADD—it is primarily a Southern and Midland expression. (Jesse Stuart lived in and wrote about Kentucky.) Evidence from California (a letter in our files and a citation from Richard Nixon in Reader's Digest 1983) suggests that the locution moved where its speakers moved, and we would guess that when the Dictionary of American Regional English reaches this phrase, we will find that it has spread considerably beyond its original boundaries. Bryant 1962 says it is used by cultivated speakers throughout the country. Those who object to the locution—Bremner 1980, Shaw 1975, 1987, Lurie 1927, Oxford American Dictionary, Heritage 1969, Winners & Sinners 17 Aug. 1961—apparently favor the Northern dialects in which like for does not occur naturally. The fact remains, however, that like for is hard to find in edited prose and seemingly always has been, even though Bryant traces it back to 1474. Our evidence suggests that the request, as in the quotation from Jesse Stuart above, is its most frequent use, though it does occur in other constructions. Here is one: • ... women are unanimous on one point: They don't like for their breasts to be handled roughly —"M", The Sensuous Man, 1971 |
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