| 词组 | continually, continuously |
| 释义 | continually, continuously The first thing that needs to be said about these adverbs is that they are used in similar contexts so much of the time that it is very difficult to discern a marked difference between them. For the record, continually had a 350-year head start on continuously, which in its early uses was found principally in technical contexts. Continuously is currently used about as frequently as continually and for the most part in essentially the same contexts. However, two specific kinds of uses (which constitute only a small minority of all the uses in our files) are handled by continuously alone. It is the adverb used when something continues in space rather than time: • The hand binding will show a sewing thread running continuously from the first needle hole to the last — Edith Diehl, Bookbinding, 1946 • ... the frieze decorated continuously with mythical battle scenes —Antiques and the Arts Weekly, 3 Dec. 1982 And continuously does all the technical work: • Let f and g map B continuously into itself—Simeon Reich, American Mathematical Monthly, January 1974 • ... compare the amount ... when interest is compounded continuously —School Mathematics Study Group, Calculus of Elementary Functions, 1969 A few commentators from Bierce 1909 to Bremner 1980 have tried to extend to these adverbs the distinction between the adjectives continual and continuous that was first made by Miss Whately in her book of synonyms published in 1851 (see continual, continuous). Unfortunately, that distinction has even less to do with the way the adverbs are used in standard English than it does with the adjectives. The distinction between the adjectives made by Fowler 1926 (also mentioned at continual, continuous) describes the use of continually pretty well, but fails for continuously. If continuously and continually are to be distinguished, they must be distinguished by criteria other than those advanced for the adjectives. We can do this best by pointing out the typical uses of each. Continuously has the two unshared uses mentioned above. It is also used to contrast with adverbs other than continually for the purpose of stressing that something happens steadily and imperceptibly without discrete stages or episodes: • Rocker arms are now pressure lubricated continuously rather than intermittently —Car Life, December 1954 • Its proponents think that species evolve episodically, not continuously —N. Y. Times Book Rev., 5 Dec. 1982 • ... the seatback angle can be adjusted continuously, rather than in steps —Consumer Reports, May 1979 Continuously is also used where stress is laid on an unbroken succession of discrete time periods: • The mayor ... , elected continuously since 1945 — Current Biography, September 1965 • After holding the international chess title continuously for nine years —Current Biography, June 1965 • ... has been appearing each week ever since, the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United • States —American Guide Series: New Hampshire, 1938 • For 137 years services were held continuously in Long Street Church —American Guide Series: North Carolina, 1939 Continually is used especially when something continues to exist or happen, with or without interruptions, for an indefinite period of time (this is what Fowler observed): • It may therefore, perhaps, be necessary, in order to preserve both men and angels in a state of rectitude, that they should have continually before them the punishment of those who have deviated from it — Samuel Johnson, quoted in James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, 1791 • The solar cells continually face the sun —Newlan MacDonnell Ulsch, Boston Globe Mag., 21 June 1981 • ... the expression ... of a beautiful secret continually tasted, was still on his face —John Updike, Couples, 1968 • ... tells of the loneliness that has been continually present in his life since he became blind and deaf — Current Biography, December 1966 • Nothing is ever dry: land and air are continually saturated —C. Daryll Forde, Habitat, Economy and Society, 8th ed., 1950 • "I'll find the right place and the right people and then I'll begin," he continually said to himself —Sherwood Anderson, Poor White, 1920 • His hands were small and prehensile, ... and they were continually flickering in front of him in violent and expressive pantomime —Robert Louis Stevenson, New Arabian Nights, 1882 • The wines are the continually underrated local ones —John Vinocur, N. Y. Times Mag, 9 Oct. 1983 Continually is also the adverb of choice when repetition is emphasized: • The youngsters continually deserted their meal in order to put their arms about the cow's neck — James Stephens, The Crock of Gold, 1912 • ... and indeed I was deeply and continually honored wherever I went —Garrison Keillor, Lake Wobegon Days, 1985 • My job is to edit copy continually —E. B. White, letter, September 1921 • ... there are two works I do reread continually — Muriel Spark, quoted in TV. Y. Times Book Rev., 12 June 1983 These examples show uses of continually and continuously in which a fastidious writer can make a rational choice. But these do not represent all usage. Many times the words are used as if they were interchangeable. The majority of the interchangeable uses are uses of continuously in contexts where continually would have worked as well and might have been expected; the use of continually in a context that is typical of continuously is relatively infrequent. The intrusion of continuously into the territory of continually is probably the result of the increase in the use of both continuous and continuously that has been going on for three centuries, rather than the result of confusion, indifference, or a failure of standards. You can observe the distinctions described and illustrated above (or even the traditionally prescribed distinction), if you want to; quite a few writers, however, seem to make virtually no distinction at all. |
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