| 词组 | as to |
| 释义 | as to 1. This homely little two-word preposition seems to trouble the writers of books on composition. McMahan & Day 1980, 1984 give a typical handbook injunction: • Many people feel that this phrase does nothing but clutter your sentence; they consider it a borrowing from the worst and wordiest of legalese. You can probably substitute the single word about. Except for the reference to legalese, which is off base, essentially the same information is to be found in a dozen handbooks. It deserves examination. This wordy bit of clutter contains four letters, one blank space, two syllables. If we replace it with about, we have five letters, no space, two syllables. How much have we gained? Nothing—the example shown in Prentice-Hall 1978 shows that the substitution of about for as to makes the sentence set slightly longer. If we substitute concerning or regarding, recommended in James Gordon Bennett's • "Don't List" for the New York Herald (reprinted in Bernstein 1971), we have expended even more space and more syllables. Clearly, then, wordy can have reference to neither space nor syllable count. The problem seems to be that as to is a compound preposition. Most of the criticism directed at it seems to have originated with H. W. Fowler. The King's English (1907) has a whole section devoted to the alarmingly increasing use of compound prepositions and conjunctions, and nearly a page is devoted to as to. Fowler 1926 treats it in even more detail—though in the later book he finds one use to be worthwhile. Most of Copperud 1970's summary comes from Fowler. As to is found chiefly in four constructions: as an introducer (the use approved by Fowler and his followers) and to link a noun, an adjective, or a verb with following matter. These four examples of Dr. Johnson's conversation (from Boswell's Life, 1791) will illustrate them: • He would begin thus: "Why, Sir, as to the good or evil of card playing—" "Now, (said Garrick,) he is thinking which side he shall take." Sir, there is no doubt as to peculiarities • ... the worst thing you can do to an author is to be silent as to his works. We are all agreed as to our own liberty These constructions are all still current in standard English. The OED gives Wycliffe (ca. 1375) as its earliest example of the preposition. It seems to have been kept in steady use by literary figures and others ever since. Here is a healthy sample from our files, covering the time from the late 17th century to the present: • ... with the proviso that he would not that night make any statement as to what the fleet would do — Dean Acheson, quoted in Merle Miller, Plain Speaking, 1973 • ... she remembered the purport of her note, and was not less sanguine as to its effect than she had been the night before —Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, 1814 • But as to the letters, they were forced from him, and exposed —Aphra Behn, The Fair Jilt, 1688 • I doubted as to the last article of this eulogy —James Boswell, Life of Samuel Johnson, 1791 • ... you don't agree with my view as to said photographer? —Lewis Carroll, letter, 1 Apr. 1887 • As to this new word with which he has dignified our language —Sir Winston Churchill, quoted by William Safire, N.Y. Times Mag., 10 Oct. 1982 • As to the old one, I knew not what to do with him, he was so fierce —Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, 1719 • ... a costly litigation ... as to who should possess the Sirens cast up by the sea on the Grand Master's shores —Norman Douglas, Siren Land, 1911 • Look ye, madam, as to that slender particular of your virtue, we shan't quarrel about it —George Far-quhar, The Constant Couple, 1699 • The opinions of relatives as to a man's powers are very commonly of little value —Oliver Wendell Holmes d. 1894, The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, 1858 • ... there were no special constitutional principles as to strong drink —Oliver Wendell Holmes d. 1935, letter, 20 May 1920 • ... my relation with the reader, which was another affair altogether and as to which I felt no one to be trusted but myself —Henry James, The Art of the Novel, 1934 • ... sounded me as to my willingness to be guardian to this William —Charles Lamb, letter, 1810 • ... who were clear as to their goal and confident as to their victory —Lewis Mumford, Technics and Civilization, 1934 • Opportunistic as to means, he was tenaciously consistent as to ends —Allan Nevins & Henry Steele Commager, The Pocket History of the U.S., 1942 • As to the money, which I care no more about than I do, say, my respiratory apparatus —John O'Hara, letter, Fall 1949 • I could not help speculating as to the possibility of my filling the vacancy —George Bernard Shaw, preface, The Shaw-Terry letters, 1931 • ... counted up a phantom savings of $6 billion from rooting out fraud, waste and abuse without any serious recommendations as to how —David A. Stockman, Newsweek, 28 Apr. 1986 Even writers on usage use it: • ... needs to be deliberately considered and analyzed; first, as to the exact meaning, and then, as to the best method —Gould 1870 • ... where are we to look for guidance as to correct English? —Leacock 1943 • ... opinion as to the propriety of particular words — Lounsbury 1908 • Peremptory and unreasoned pronouncements as to what is bad English are not the least of the minor pests which vex our enlightened age —Fitzedward Hall, "English Rational and Irrational," 1880 We think that it should be self-evident that as to is not legalese, as those "some people" referred to by McMahan & Day think. Rather, it is a common compound preposition in wide use at every level of formality that apparently goes unnoticed by usage commentators, except in places where they are displeased by it. All of the constructions used by Dr. Johnson are still current. You can use any of them when they sound right to you. 2. One of the chief complaints made about as to is its superfluity in many instances especially when used in front of such conjunctions as how, why, and whether: • ... the question as to how they should be referred to —H. L. Mencken, in Essays on Language and Usage, ed. Leonard F. Dean & Kenneth G. Wilson, 2d ed., 1963 • The issue raised by the word is as to how the understanding is done—what parts you have to be conscious of —William Empson, The Structure of Complex Words, 1951 • ... it should be clear as to why Joyce could find no inspiration in a cultural renaissance that found so much of theme and subject in a legendary Irish past —James T. Farrell, The League of Frightened Philistines, 1945 The most frequent of these constructions is with whether: • My uncertainty as to whether I can so manage as to go personally —Lord Byron, letter, 7 Apr. 1823 • ... there ensued a long conversation as they walked as to whether waiters made more in actual wages than in tips —F. Scott Fitzgerald, "May Day," in The Portable F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1945 • In the argument over this issue the question arose as to whether a great power could not only veto the coercion of itself —Walter Lippmann, Atlantic, December 1944 • In the event of a dispute as to whether the Court has jurisdiction —Charter of the United Nations, 1945 • ... a first inquiry as to whether we do not fail both in the types of our teaching and in the kind of intellectual material we attempt to handle —Selected Writings of Louise Pound, 1949 • ... there was some mild speculation among the crowds as to whether he would come along with his mother —Mollie Panter-Downes, New Yorker, 6 Oct. 1951 • They got into a discussion as to whether the hills of Africa were in fact green, as Hemingway said —John Barkham, Saturday Rev., 13 Feb. 1954 As to whether is a particular bugbear of the handbooks. Here is a typical injunction: • This formulation occurs frequently in the speech and writing of those who will never use a single word where three can be found. Example: "There is some question as to whether the bill will pass." The as to can simply be deleted. Whether says it all —Harper 1975, 1985 Sometime after Harper 1975 was published, an item in the New Yorker pointed out that the 1975 edition of Harper used as to whether at least three times, as here, under excellent: • A reader raises the question as to whether "very excellent" is acceptable... The 1985 edition has emended the passage to: • A reader raises the question whether "very excellent" is acceptable ... All the 1985 emendation accomplishes is to gain Harper consistency between precept and practice and to demonstrate that as to can be omitted; it has not demonstrated that as to must be omitted. Its omission is mandatory only if you are writing a telegram. Otherwise omission or retention of as to is entirely a matter of your own ear, taste, or style. |
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