| 词组 | of |
| 释义 | of 1. Of is involved as a part of various subjects in this book. See, for instance, the compound prepositions alongside of, alongside; inside of; off of; outside of. It is also part of the construction discussed at double genitive. 2. Of for 've or have. Have in a sentence like "I could have gone" rarely receives full stress and is consequently seldom pronounced \\\\hav\\\\ In ordinary circumstances the could have would be pronounced \\\\kud-ǝv\\\\, with the accent on could and no accent on have. Thus in ordinary conversation have, unstressed, is pronounced the same as of, unstressed. When the unstressed have is spelled, it is usually spelled 've, but children and others who are partly educated may equate the \\\\av\\\\ with the spelling of, producing could of (and should of would of, ought to of, might of, may of, must of). We find that the of spelling of have (or ve) occurs in two ways. First we find the naive use. Bernstein 1977 allows that a schoolchild cannot be blamed for could of— once. But the habit must be difficult to eradicate, because warnings against could of and its relatives are carried in most schoolbooks and college handbooks— Warriner 1986, Corder 1981, Scott, Foresman 1981, Macmillan 1982, Irmscher 1978, Prentice Hall 1978, Bell & Cohn 1980, Little, Brown 1980, 1986, among others—and in many general usage books—Harper 1975, 1985, Bernstein 1977, Janis 1984, Reader's Digest 1983, Johnson 1982, Shaw 1970, Freeman 1983, among others. And such warnings have been carried since MacCracken & Sandison 1917. In spite of the warnings, naive of can be found in print: • ... Our Store Hours Were Stated Incorrectly and Should of Read ... —advt., quoted by William Safire, N.Y. Times Mag, 8 June 1980 • This movie would of sunk (as would many others) if the male 'protagonist' was out bayoneting babies — letter to the editor, Valley Advocate, 5 Mar. 1980 The second use—more complicated—is deliberate use by writers. Writers use the spelling to create an unlettered persona: • Dock Knowitall he was Good an' Rattled by this time, an' the mos' Heedless Observer could easy of seen he was in fer one o' the Sensations of a Life Time —Frank W. Sage, D.D.S., Dental Digest, November 1902 • I could of beat them easy with any kind of support —Ring Lardner, You Know Me Al, 1916 • ... he must of thought I said it was the last bottle in the world —Ring Lardner, The Big Town, 1921 F. Scott Fitzgerald used the spelling to represent the speech of a woman who was not overeducated: • "Everybody kept saying to me: 'Lucille, that man's 'way below you!' But if I hadn't met Chester, he'd of got me sure." —The Great Gatsby, 1925 Writers are still using it to transcribe fictional speech. Notice the contrast in the next example between the detective's have and the motel manager's of— perhaps the detective is supposed to be better educated. Charlie took the bullet and rolled it around in his hand. "Could it have been there before they came?" • "Sure, it's possible," said Bellamy. "We always clean but I guess we could of missed it. I just don't think we did, that's all."—Stephen Dobyns, Saratoga Snapper, 1986 It is also used to transcribe real speech: • That's about what he should of done, felt sorry for him because Pierce didn't know what was going on, and even if he had, he wouldn't of known what to do about it —Harry S. Truman, in Merle Miller, Plain Speaking, 1973 The OED Supplement dates the naive (or ignorant) use of of 'back to 1837. A century and a half of use have not made it respectable, and you had better avoid it in your own writing. You will, of course, have to decide whether you want to use have or the more conversational 've. Deliberate use in fiction is a more difficult matter. It can be used as Ring Lardner used it—as part of the creation of a fictional persona. But if you use it, you must take care to be as consistent with it as he was. The OED Supplement has an example where an author uses might have been and then might of been, which can only leave the reader puzzling over the possible significance of the switch. What the purpose might be of using offoT've in writing fictional dialogue is not clear, but obviously writers like it enough to keep using it. We do not see the purpose of using it in transcribing real speech, since the unstressed \\\\av\\\\ can be transcribed just as faithfully with've as it is with of For had of, see plupluperfect. 3.Of is used in a periphrastic version of the adverbial genitive (which see). The noun after of may be either singular or plural. The construction has a distinctly literary feel: • I walk out here of an afternoon, and hear the notes of the thrush —William Hazlitt, letter, February 1822 • ... settle down of an afternoon to compare audition notes —Kim Waller, Town & Country, September 1983 • ... will be like ... sitting down of an evening with you —Robert Frost, letter, 10 Oct. 1920 • I don't sleep well of nights, either —William Humphrey, Sports Illustrated, 14 Oct. 1985 |
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