| 词组 | other than |
| 释义 | other than Other has a propensity for being used with than. The trouble is, as the OED shows, that other can be an adjective, a pronoun, or an adverb, and still be used with than. This flexibility has created a variety of other than constructions and the consequent bewilderment of usage commentators, beginning with Fowler 1926. The critics who follow Fowler more or less repeat, with varying degrees of expansiveness, his dictum that "other than should be registered as a phrase to be avoided." Writers have paid scant attention to this advice; other than is not avoided. The grammatical problem that Fowler brought on himself was a result of not paying attention to the OED. Fowler approved other as an adjective; he disapproved it as an adverb, even though the OED recognized it. And he overlooked the fact that the OED also covers it as a pronoun. This oversight left him stumped when, damning uses he had decided were adverbial, he ran up against an example to which his adverbial analysis did not apply: • Up to the very end no German field company would look with other than apprehension to meeting the 25th on even terms. This other is the seventh sense of the OED's pronoun. It has been around for quite a while and is still current: • I can not in honesty or self-respect do other than protest —Dewitt Clinton Poole, quoted in Current Biography 1950 • ... the geographical scheme was introduced by other than Sumerians —Henry Lutz, in Semitic and Oriental Studies, ed. Walter J. Fischel, 1951 • ... when the cue ball is frozen to the cushion and you face other than a straightaway shot —Willie Mosconi, Winning Pocket Billiards, 1965 Fowler was similarly perplexed when other than was followed by an adjective: • But it is doubtful if any of the leaders ... would have been other than dismayed and frightened at the idea —Gerald Carson, New-England Galaxy, Winter 1965 • ... he always wondered how she could be other than happy —Robert Canzoneri, McCalls's, March 1971 When other is rather obviously an adjective or an adverb, the compound other than works much like a compound preposition meaning "besides" or "except": • ... a high-level dialogue, covering issues other than hostages —Oliver North, in The Tower Commission Report, 1987 • ... discovering he has a lover other than her —Martin Tucker, Commonweal, 11 Apr. 1969 • ... laborers in disciplines other than experimental science —Robert M. Hutchins, Center Mag., January 1969 • Milton ... is trying to do something quite other than Donne —F. R. Leavis, Revaluation, 1947 • ... cannot be viewed other than with regret —American Labor, July 1968 • ... openings other than doors were rare —Katharine Kuh, Saturday Rev., 28 June 1969 • Nor shall I enter into details concerning the ensuing half-dozen nights, other than to say that promptly on the stroke of every midnight, the shade of Ernest appeared at the bedside of Ida May —Katherine Anne Porter, Ladies' Home Jour., August 1971 This quasi-prepositional use is sometimes close in meaning to "apart from": • Other than twisting and untwisting her hands, she sits perfectly still —Jim Jerome, N.Y. Times Mag., 14 Jan. 1979 • Other than Chinese and Indian restaurants ... I can only think of one place in London where you can get lunch —Margaret Costa, Illustrated London News, 31 Aug. 1968 In addition, you will sometimes find other than that used like except that: • I do not recall in what territory it was, other than that it was west of Albuquerque —Agnes Morley Cleaveland, No Life for a Lady, 1941 All of these uses are standard English. It seems quite clear that the last word on the grammar of these phrases has not yet been written, but inability to analyze constructions in a satisfying way has never deterred writers from using them. There seems little point in changing other than to except or besides or otherwise than or apart from unless you think the change makes your sentence sound better. You surely need not avoid other than simply because usage writers are perplexed by its grammar. |
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