| 词组 | detract, distract |
| 释义 | detract, distract Some language commentators warn against confusing the use of detract and distract. While it is true that detract is used most commonly to mean "to take away something," it is also used to mean "to divert." The OED records this sense as dating from the 16th century, and the citation it quotes from the early 19th century shows the verb with the word attention as its direct object. This sense of detract has been entered in Merriam-Webster dictionaries since Webster's Second (1934), and Merriam-Webster editors have collected some half dozen instances of its use during the 20th century: • The anxious drama of the political and economic crises ... has tended to detract attention from many of the more prosaic yet profound changes —Arthur Sweetser, Foreign Affairs, October 1940 • These exaggerated reports tend to detract attention from the real issue —John Scott, Time, 3 Mar. 1947 The fact of the matter is that while "distract (the) attention" is by far the more commonly used phrase, "detract (the) attention" is also attested in irreproachably standard contexts. When detract is used with a preposition, it is used with from: • ... the little room was furnished as a chapel, though very simply, so as not to detract from the glory of the frescoes —Elizabeth Goudge, Pilgrim 's Inn, 1948 • An individual's image enhances or detracts from his power to persuade —Carll Tucker, Saturday Rev., 25 Nov. 1978 |
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