| 词组 | plus |
| 释义 | plus The little four-letter word plus has prompted quite a bit of commentary in recent times. The two uses exciting the most interest are, grammatically, conjunctive and adverbial. Even though not a few commentators have mixed these together, we will treat them separately for clarity's sake. 1. Conjunctive use. Plus used as a conjunction springs directly from its earlier use as a preposition. There are two somewhat differing conjunctive uses which spring from two senses of the preposition. The first of these is found in the familiar "two plus two makes four." In this use plus means the same as and but demonstrates its prepositional character by not affecting the number of the verb. With plus used this way, the singular verb seems to be the standard in mathematics; there may be difficulties when non-mathematicians get involved, and these are explored at two and two. But plus does not limit itself to mathematical contexts. It has slipped out into general use. Ordinarily this use is acceptably prepositional; sometimes the prepositional character is emphasized when plus occurs between two noun phrases governing a verb: • Verb plus predicate complement is used with comparisons —Language, October-December 1943 • This plus the old bitterness of Berliners... has made for a certain amount of ill-feeling —Walter Sullivan, N.Y. Times, 22 Mar. 1953 • The partition of Germany, plus the Cold War, has cut off markets —Percy W. Bidwell, Yale Rev., June 1953 • ... but fantasy plus fantasy adds up —Phoebe-Lou Adams, Atlantic, February 1972 As plus in its signification of "and" crept into general use, the likelihood increased that it would begin to be used like and. The first flares calling attention to this use were sent up by Theodore Bernstein. In Bernstein 1962 he exhibits this example: • This, plus a change in top management of the brewing company, are believed to be the factors responsible He took the plural verb used here to mean that plus was being used as a conjunction, just like and. Perrin & Ebbitt 1972 has a similar example, perhaps a bit earlier: • The Smyth report, plus an idea and some knowledge of bureaucracy, were all I needed —Pat Frank, Saturday Rev., 24 Dec. 1960 These examples show plus beginning to be apprehended as a conjunction between the parts of a compound subject of a sentence. It had in fact been used earlier as a conjunction in less obvious circumstances: in the two following examples, plus is a coordinating conjunction between adjectives and between prepositional phrases: • ... a mere box-office success like Kiss and Tell and a box-office plus critical and artistic success like Strange Interlude —George Jean Nathan, The Theatre Book of the Year, 1949-1950 • For some years, the Morrisons have lived quietly in a modest house in Eltham, a London suburb, plus in a sliver of an apartment in an old-fashioned small hotel —Mollie Panter-Downes, New Yorker, 31 Mar. 1951 This older conjunctive use of plus seems, then, to have originated around 1950, and to be primarily a written use. It cannot be called nonstandard, but it does not seem to be especially common. The prepositional plus has another sense that means "besides." It seems to be only a little older than the first conjunctive plus: • And they swing awesomely. Plus which they avoid as much as possible using the Dixie standards that have been played to death — Down Beat, 20 Oct. 1950 • Also, there is that Major Douglas bug he swallowed. Plus his conviction that he has read American history —Archibald MacLeish, letter, 27 July 1943 Sometime in the 1960s this sense of plus began to turn up, primarily in speech, meaning "besides which" and introducing a clause rather than a noun or pronoun to which a clause is attached: • "I'm not a mere producer," he announced proudly. • "I take the stills, plus I play a part in the film "—New Yorker, 23 July 1966 • This is a danger to youngsters going to and from school, plus it cuts off many areas of the community from fire protection —letter to the editor, Salt Lake Tribune, 5 Aug. 1968 • She'd give him some money, plus she'd go to bed with him —Robin Langston, quoted in Studs Terkel, Hard Times, 1970 This second, primarily spoken conjunctive plus appears to be rather more common than our earlier conjunctive use. But its areas of application, so far, are limited almost entirely to speech, advertising, and breezy prose: • If you want to make a superinvestment plus you don't happen to be rich —radio commercial, 22 Aug. 1973 • ... can emulate any standard HASP multileaving workstation in RJE mode, plus it can operate as a host to other workstations —advt., Datamation, December 1982 • A fan gets to see new artists and new shows every year at Fan Fair, plus we get to see other fans —Lou-dilla Johnson, quoted in People, 27 June 1983 • ... once the hustling and shooting started up again, she couldn't manage without a nanny—plus there was the hefty expense —Robert Sawyer, Metropolitan Home, July 1984 This later conjunctive plus is much more prominent right now than the older one, and it has been the subject of considerable adverse comment. As a speech form it is impervious to such comment, but it shows no sign just now of elbowing its way into serious prose. You will probably not want to use it in writing except, perhaps, in your breeziest stuff. 2. Adverbial use. What we are describing as the adverbial use of plus is lumped by many commentators with the second conjunctive use above. It means "besides" and differs from the conjunction primarily in being used to introduce a sentence rather than to connect two clauses. Like the second conjunctive use, it seems to date from the 1960s. • I would have liked to have written that ad myself. Plus, this is a free country —letter to the editor, Saturday Rev., 9 July 1966 • ... I am impelled to add my own pet peeve It is • "Plus you get," for "In addition you receive" —letter to the editor, Saturday Rev., 9 July 1966 This adverbial plus appears in the same sorts of places as the second conjunctive use—speech, advertising, and informal prose—but it seems to be a bit more respectable in that it is found more often in informal prose than the conjunction is. • Plus we have many college students who are eager to work with youth, but unable to find jobs —Leonard J. Collamore, quoted in Springfield (Mass.) Union, 1 July 1970 • Plus it's coming in with two times the level of sodium —George Cross, quoted in New England Farmer, November 1982 • Plus, I get upset about this book she's writing — Patrick Anderson, Cosmopolitan, July 1976 • Plus, the Polish stereotype is much nastier than the Irish stereotype —Sandra McCosh, Maledicta, Winter 1977 • You've got your comforts and you've got to be thankful for that these days, what with everything. Plus we like to plan a few improvements round the place—Punch, 14 Apr. 1976 • Unlike most of us, David doesn't rumple. Plus, he's too rich —Douglas S. Looney, People, 31 Jan. 1983 • Plus, he's relaxed enough to joke —Christopher Connelly, Houston Post, 2 Sept. 1984 To sum up, the earlier conjunctive plus has been in respectable use all along. The later conjunctive plus calls attention to itself, and it has little use in discursive prose. The adverbial plus is a little more respectable than the later conjunction; you might want to use it occasionally in informal prose—many writers seem to do so these days. Neither of the latter two usages appears in formal surroundings. |
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