| 词组 | case |
| 释义 | case Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch in his book On the Art of Writing (1916)—a collection of lectures delivered at Cambridge in 1914 and 1915—includes a lecture in which he has a little fun with the jargon of bureaucrats, some of whom were evidently employed at Cambridge. The word that is the chief butt of the lecture is case in a few of its typical phrases. Although Copperud 1970 says that the use of case is "unforgettably ridiculed," the actual humor of the lecture depends first on the audacity of tweaking the noses of the university examiners and second on the deliberate misconstrual of some harmlessly stodgy formula used by the poor clerk of a local board. If you are looking for unforgettable ridicule, you would do better to read Mark Twain on Fenimore Cooper. In any case—to use one of the aspersed phrases— Quiller-Couch, once committed to print, became the source of a copious flow of imitation, from MacCracken & Sandison 1917 on. The usual criticism picks out one or two phrases and appends some comment like "wordy and usually unnecessary." Copperud notes with some surprise that "these expressions seem immune to attack"—which simply means that writers regularly use the offending phrases without paying attention to the critics. So here—perhaps for the first time anywhere—you may see how real writers use some of the offending expressions. In any case: • ... others say, universities in any case are good for very litte —George W. Bonham, Change, October 1971 • In any case, it would take a genealogist some days clambering around a man's family tree to determine whether he was entitled to the suffix of esquire — Howard 1980 • ... under threat of a scandal which, in any case, would drive him out of public life —Samuel Hopkins Adams, Success, 1921 • He is physically so extraordinary, in any case, that nothing less than a life-size statue ... could convey his uniqueness —Robert Craft, Harper's, December 1968 In case: • ... a literary party where one is expected to know all the guests but the host keeps murmuring their names in one's ear just in case —Humphrey Carpenter, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 24 Apr. 1983 • ... and taking into consideration the vagaries of the English climate, I like to take some woollens just in case —Graham Greene, Travels with My Aunt, 1969 • And in case the President still thinks law and order and Vietnam are what count —Anne Chamberlin, McCall's, March 1971 • ... pledged mutual assistance in case either country engaged in hostilities —Collier's Year Book, 1949 In case of: • ... presiding over the Senate, where he casts a vote in case of a tie —Current Biography, April 1966 • The roof must be completed in case of rain — Thomas J. Smith, Yankee, July 1968 • An underground passage gave safe access to a spring in case of need —American Guide Series: Virginia, 1941 In that case: • He told me that he was not at the Writers' Workshop and in fact had no connection at all with the university. When I asked why in that case he was here, he looked at me with perplexity —Laurence Lafore, Harper's, October 1971 • In that case, I'd change my money first and pay in British currency —Richard Joseph, Your Trip to Britain, 1954 • He asked if, in that case, America would "maintain the adequate military, naval, and air forces" —Stephen E. Ambrose, Johns Hopkins Mag., April 1966 The foregoing phrases are not easily removed, although sometimes they may be replaced by another phrase. In the case of, however, is a phrase that several handbooks believe can readily be done without or, as Copperud suggests, replaced by concerning. You will see in these next examples that you cannot always make the suggested expedients work. You may well be able to think of different, more workable revisions, though. • In the case of cancer or heart disease the only person who literally gets hurt is the one who failed to get to his doctor in time —Glenn V. Carmichael, Ford Times, September 1966 • ... asked if he would, in the case of an emergency, be willing to lend me some money —Jane Harriman, Atlantic, March 1970 • ... averring that leniency would be a mistake in the case of the confirmed young criminal —Current Biography 1947 • In the case of the Hollywood writers, some of the accused took their case to the courts —Collier's Year Book, 1949 • Posterity, if she doesn't ignore him altogether, is far more likely to confirm and even to emphasize the vulgar judgment of his contemporaries, as she has done in the case of Doyle and Holmes —New Yorker, 12 Feb. 1949 In these last few examples, the expression containing case can probably be revised for the better. If you try, remember that you are looking for an improvement, not just a substitution. • There are quite a number of so-called "magnetic hills" ... located wherever the configuration of the landscape presents the illusion of nonexistent grades. It is usually a case of a slope of moderate steepness occurring between two steeper slopes —Donald A. Whiting, Ford Times, February 1968 • If it is a truism that the quality of every college depends chiefly upon its faculty, it was even more the case at the Wyandanch College Center —Jerome M. Ziegler, Change, June 1972 • ... she wouldn't expect any payment. Which proved to be the case —Gail Cameron, Ladies' Home Jour., August 1971 • Each environmental problem requires a specific solution, even in cases where the products made are similar in nature —Annual Report, National Lead Co., 1970 Conclusion: sometimes phrases with case are superfluous, sometimes they are long-winded, and sometimes they are neither. You have to decide each case on its merits. |
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