| 词组 | consider |
| 释义 | consider 1. Consider ran into trouble with usage writers in 1870. In that year Richard Grant White, by misconstruing its etymology, decided that it should not be used as a synonym for suppose, think, regard—a use that has existed since the 16th century. Ayres 1881 quoted White. Hall 1917 cited a writer named Genung as condemning the use in 1893 and recanting in 1900. Utter 1916 referred to White's condemned use as a "weaker" sense and said that it was established in the usage of good writers. MacCracken & Sandison 1917 followed White's lead and added a wrinkle of their own: when used in a sense close to "regard," consider should not be followed by as (this construction dates back to the 17th century). Hall 1917 established by counting examples of what Utter had observed: the "weaker" sense of consider was well established in literature. In more recent commentators we find a similar variety of opinion. Partridge 1942 and Bemner 1980 tend to agree with Utter and Hall; Evans 1957 is lukewarm toward the use; Copperud 1964, 1970, 1980 goes with Richard Grant White. The as construction criticized as illogical by MacCracken & Sandison is called unidiomatic by Copperud and by Gowers in Fowler 1965, and Strunk & White 1959, 1972, 1979 also disapprove as when consider means "believe to be." Evans and Copperud raise a third issue: Evans says that consider can be followed by an infinitive but that a that clause is generally preferred, while Copperud declares the following clause to be unidiomatic. Let us examine these three issues in the light of the evidence. The first is easily disposed of. Richard Grant White has fallen into the etymological fallacy—a favorite pitfall of his—and besides, half of his etymologizing is wrong. The OED dates the use from before 1533. Here are a couple of examples (and the examples for the constructions below also illustrate this long established sense): • I considered this one of the most unhandsome speeches ever made —Robert Louis Stevenson (in Hall 1917) • Who is the man most to be admired? Sometimes the man who is so considered officially by his class — Sinclair Lewis, Yale Literary Mag., June 1906 The question of the construction with as is more interesting. Consider, in the sense under consideration here, can be used with several kinds of complements. It may be followed by a noun: • ... does not class himself with performers he considers great popular singers —Current Biography, February 1968 • ... the daily threat of death was considered part of the business —Science News, 14 June 1969 It may be followed by an adjective: • ... honeymoons in Europe were not considered necessary —Charles Bracelen Flood, Omnibook, June 1954 It may be followed by an adjectival prepositional phrase: • Pine was the only timber then considered of commercial value —American Guide Series: Michigan, 1941 It may be followed by two nouns (or pronoun and noun), one the direct object and the other its complement: • ... many close friends now had to consider each other enemies —Martha F. Child, New-England Galaxy, Fall 1970 • ... many well-placed doctors consider nurses the most important component —Leonard Gross, McCall's, March 1971 • His fellow clerks ... had come to consider him a very prickly sort of fellow —Thomas B. Costain, The Black Rose, 1945 It may be followed by a noun (or pronoun) and an adjective: • ... considered her so totally unamiable —Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, 1811 • ... to consider war inevitable and prepare for it — Wall Street Jour., 26 Mar. 1954 It may also be followed by a noun and a phrase introduced by an infinitive: • ... we consider the results to be satisfactory — Annual Report, National Distillers and Chemical Corp., 1969 Consider is also used in many of the same constructions with as. For instance, with a single noun: • ... the "bastard-wing" in birds may be safely considered as a digit in a rudimentary state —Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 1859 • ... all the problems which can be considered as that problem in disguise —W. W. Sawyer, Prelude to Mathematics, 1955 • ... that metal, which was peculiarly considered as the standard or measure of* value —Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations • ... what has been considered as possibly Gallegos' finest novel —Current Biography 1948 With an adjective: • ... could not but consider it as absolutely unnecessary —Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814 • ... they consider Marx as outdated —Edmond Taylor, The Reporter, 17 Aug. 1954 With two nouns or a pronoun and a noun: • ... we have considered science as a steadily advancing army of ascertained facts —W. R. Inge, The Church in the World, 1928 • ... are reported to consider polished stone axes, and in general all polished pebbles, as thunderstone —Sir James G. Frazer, Aftermath, 1937 • We must consider government as our servant — Rexford G. Tugwell, quoted in Center Mag., March 1968 • ... I considered him and deferred to him as an older man —T. S. Matthews, Saturday Rev., 17 May 1975 It can also be followed by a participle: • Throughout this section all figures will be considered as lying in a fixed plane —School Mathematics Study Group, Geometry, Part II, 1965 You will have noted some older writers cited above. Our evidence suggests that the as constructions are perfectly idiomatic but are not as common in recent use as they have been in the past. Nonetheless, they are still in use and are standard. Our last question is about complementizing with a clause. Evans notes that consider may be followed by an infinitive phrase: • ... is considered to excel in the interpretation of modern works —Current Biography 1948 But he says that a that clause is likely to be preferred. Copperud, on the other hand, says that a clause is un-idiomatic. Our evidence shows Copperud's notion to be unfounded: • I do not consider that the replaying of all that classical truck shows a raising of the Goldman Band's cultural standard —Virgil Thomson, The Musical Scene, 1947 • ... they considered that ... a state of war now existed —Sir Winston Churchill, The Unrelenting Struggle, 1942 • We can understand Tacitus considering that a man who lives outside la ville must be a lunatic —Norman Douglas, Siren Land, 1911 • Then there are those friends ... who consider that the diaries make him out an extremely unpleasant person —Auberon Waugh, N. Y. Times Mag., 1 Oct. 1973 We must conclude that all the illustrated uses of consider are proper and standard; they are well-established in literature and in general writing. There never has been anything wrong with them. We do note, however, some apparent reduction in recent use of the as constructions, even though they are by no means archaic. 2. Consider can also be used wither • ... considered for an official position —Dictionary of American Biography, 1929 • ... was being considered for a new and rather difficult assignment —Current Biography, July 1965 3. The construction consider of is called by the OED "somewhat archaic." It does seem a bit old-fashioned: • She took three days to consider of his proposals — Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814 • "I will consider of her punishment." —Mark Twain, The Prince and The Pauper, 1881 {A Mark Twain Lexicon, 1938) • ... they were to consider of their verdict —Selected Writings of Benjamin N. Cardozo, ed. Margaret E. Hall, 1947 |
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