| 词组 | onto, on to |
| 释义 | onto, on to The preposition onto, which was originally spelled on to, was aspersed as a vulgarism or an unnecessary formation in the 19th century. Alford 1866 disapproved it, and so did Ayres 1881 ; other disapproves are mentioned by Vizetelly 1906 and Bernstein 1971. As a two-word preposition, on to has been in use since the 16th century; perhaps it was not much used in the best-known literature, but several of its users who are quoted in the OED had at least minor literary reputations. Alford was probably unaware of its early use. Apparently he had many correspondents who defended the term, which suggests that it was then popular. Part of the resistance to on to in British English can be attributed to its being even more popular in America, and no doubt some American resistance to it was based on a distaste for the usages of American humorists: • ... and her shoes is red morocker, with gold spangles onto them —Artemus Ward: His Book, 1862 • "... mam were feedin us brats onto mush and milk " —George Washington Harris, "Rare Ripe Garden Seed," 1867, in The Mirth of a Nation, ed. Walter Blair & Raven I. McDavid, Jr., 1983 If these usages were typical of spoken 19th-century American English, it is perhaps not too surprising that the preposition was associated in some minds with a certain vulgarity. At any rate, onto has had some difficulty winning acceptance. Even now it meets some resistance in Great Britain, especially in the solid form onto, which seems to have been originally American. In current American usage onto is usually interchangeable with on in the sense "to a position on": • ... with the McCarthy news pushed over onto page 4 —James Thurber, letter, 1 June 1954 • ... the crowd was so excited that they ran out onto the field —Tip O'Neill with William Novak, Man of the House, 1987 • ... some tramp who had wandered onto the grounds —E. L. Doctorow, Loon Lake, 1979 • In winter time he needs to shovel the snow from in front of his windows in order to see out; it gets so deep he can walk right onto the roof when the ice must be scraped off —Edward Hoagland, Atlantic, July 1971 Some commentators contrast onto with on in uses like these, especially with verbs like run, wander, walk, and step, as walk on the roof suggests something different from walk onto the roof. Onto is also used for attachment: • ... my father's Model T with the isinglass windows in side curtains that had to be buttoned onto the frame in bad weather —Russell Baker, Growing Up, 1982 Nearly every commentator from Alford to the present (and the OED as well) warns about not confusing the preposition onto with the adverb on—associated with a preceding verb—followed by the preposition to: • Pass this on to MR. PAYNE and apprize Martin thereof —Charles Lamb, letter, undated (perhaps 1823) • ... the decision to hold on to the price line —Fortune, December 1960 (in Bryant 1962) A correspondent complains to us that this distinction is frequently not observed with hold, especially when the preposition follows its object: • I'd given this company, a bank, all my money to hold onto for me until I needed it —And More by Andy Rooney, 1982 The distinction between the adverb followed by the preposition and the compound preposition is not as readily discernible with hold as it would be with some of the other verbs, such as travel or go, and it may be that the preposition onto will become established with hold. In American English the preposition is regularly spelled onto; the open compound on to is still preferred by some British writers and publishers. Onto also is used in a sense close to "aware of." This use is originally American, but the OED Supplement says it is now also used in British English: • Alvarez is onto some kind of truth —Wilfrid Sheed, The Good Word and Other Words, 1978 |
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