| 词组 | circle |
| 释义 | circle There are some language commentators who decry the use of the verb circle with around or round as redundant. The OED evidence shows that these words, along with about, have been used with circle for a long time: • So cerclith it the welle aboute —[Geoffrey Chaucer,] The Romaunt of the Rose, ca. 1400 (OED) • The Sea which circles us around —Abraham Cowley, Works, ca. 1667 (OED) • The busy whisper circling round Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd —Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, 1770 (OED) • That proud ring Of peers who circled round the King —Sir Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake, 1810 (OED) Although it is true that circle in this sense is now most frequently used by itself, there is contemporary evidence for its still taking around, round, or about in a complement: • ... hired a sound truck that circled around the home —Theodore H. White, The Reporter, 8 June 1954 • ... he circled mentally round and round the core of the matter —Marcia Davenport, My Brother's Keeper, 1954 • ... female circles about youngster —Robert M. McClung, Massachusetts Audubon, June 1968 Note that in the example from Marcia Davenport round suggests cautious avoidance of or a failing to come to grips with something. Around is similarly used: • ... after circling around the problem for years, finally took the plunge and committed itself — George W. Bonham, Change, Winter 1971-1972 • ... they circle warily around the resulting void at the centre of popular humanistic thought —Joan Fox, in The Film, 1968 Or it may add a note of confusion: • Adding to the congestion are befuddled drivers circling around the cargo center searching for the passenger terminals —Frank E. Emerson, New York, 22 Nov. 1971 There seems to be no compelling reason to avoid around, round, or about. These are not the only particles in use with circle. Here are the adverbs back, up, and in, usually in conjunction with a preposition: • ... to allow the mind free play, to circle back on one's own arguments —James R. Kincaid, N.Y. Times Book Rev., 24 Jan. 1982 • ... thinks of his life as being a sort of long, boring, nonstop flight from Cuba that will eventually circle back there —Vincent Canby, N.Y. Times, 29 Apr. 1979 • I can circle up behind him, she thought —Bill Pron-zini, The Stalker, 1971 • As they begin, first slowly, then with increasing cold certainty, to circle in on each other —Barbara A. Bannon, Publishers Weekly, 4 Aug. 1975 |
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