| 词组 | preparatory |
| 释义 | preparatory 1. When used with a preposition, preparatory is followed by to: • ... the transports were already taking in their cargoes preparatory to dropping down the Thames — W. M. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, 1848 • Van Heising is lying down, having a rest preparatory to his journey —Bram Stoker, Dracula, 1897 • Webster however thought of his first dictionary as only preparatory to a larger work —Dictionary of A merican Biography, 1936 • ... studied law preparatory to being admitted to the state bar in 1898 —The Americana Annual 1953 2. A few commentators (Flesch 1964, Copperud 1964, 1970, 1980, Cook 1985) consider preparatory to pretentious or wordy for before. Not every writer is willing to be limited to before in every case, however. If the examples above are not enough, here are four more. We are not persuaded that they sound pretentious or even that they mean just what they would mean if before were used: • I sat it up on my desk for a while preparatory to rewrapping it —James Thurber, letter, 6 Sept. 1947 • He stopped, put the gears into reverse and twisted around in his seat preparatory to backing up —E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime, 1975 • For all I know, you are a spy, sent here by an alien race to study us, preparatory to invasion —Gore Vidal, "Visit to a Small Planet," 1955 • ... a few years ago when I was shipping off stuff to Cornell preparatory to dying —E. B. White, letter, 9 Jan. 1970 See also previous to; prior to. |
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