时间:2019-01-16 作者:英语课 分类:英语语法 Grammar Girl


英语课

Grammar Girl here.

 

Today's topic is irregardless.

 

Hi, Grammar Girl. I'm an English teacher in Boston, Massachusetts, and I am freaking out. One of my students tells me that irregardless is now a word, and apparently 1 it's been added to some dictionaries. Can you clear this up for me. This is serious panic time.

 

In the immortal 2 words of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 3: Don't panic. Irregardless is a word, but it's not a proper word, and your student's assertion that it's in some dictionaries is a great opportunity to talk about the different kind of dictionaries and the different kind of entries in dictionaries.

 

 

Irregardless versus 4 Regardless

 

First, let's talk about irregardless. Some people mistakenly use irregardless when they mean “regardless.” Regardless means “regard less,” “without regard,” or despite something. For example, Squiggly will eat chocolate regardless of the consequences.

 

The prefix 5 ir- (i-r) is a negative prefix, so if you add the prefix ir to a word that's already negative like regardless, you're making a double-negative word that literally 6 means “without without regard.”


Language experts speculate that irregardless comes from a combination of the words regardless and irrespective and that another reason people might say "irregardless" is that they are following the pattern of words like irregular and irreplaceable. But regardless already has the -less suffix 7 on the end, so it's not like those other words.




Standard versus Nonstandard English

 

Now, on to dictionaries. Although it's true that the American Heritage Dictionary, the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, and the Oxford 8 English Dictionary all list the word irregardless, they also note that it's considered nonstandard. Listing a word as nonstandard is a way that dictionaries concede that a word is in common use, but isn't really a proper word. Standard language is defined as the language spoken by educated native speakers (1), but comprehensive dictionaries also include nonstandard words, dialect, colloquialisms 9, and jargon--words like ain't, conversate, and irregardless. It seems pretty common for people to look up a word in a dictionary, and if it's there, they think it's fine to use that word every circumstance. It's the "Look, it's a word!" phenomenon. But you have to look a little further to see what kind of word it is, and if it's nonstandard in some way, then use it with caution. You'll sound uneducated if you go around saying things like I ain't gonna conversate with him irregardless of the consequences.

 

Sometimes words make the transition from nonstandard to standard English. My dictionaries assure me that snuck is a word that falls into this category (although I know that will upset some of you). But since many educated people still rail against irregardless, and the word isn't commonly seen in edited writing, I don't believe irregardless is going to make the transition to standard language any time soon.


Prescriptive versus Descriptive Dictionaries


And one final thought about dictionaries—irregardless was listed in every dictionary I checked, but sometimes words will show up in one dictionary and not another. And it's important to realize that there are different kinds of dictionaries. For example, there are prescriptive and descriptive dictionaries. A prescriptive dictionary focuses on the way the language should be according to traditional rules, and a descriptive dictionary focuses on the language that is actually in use by the population. So a descriptive dictionary is likely to include words that a prescriptive dictionary would leave out. Many older dictionaries are prescriptive, but most modern dictionaries are descriptive. Some people think the American Heritage Dictionary is the most prescriptive modern dictionary (2). It still includes nonstandard words like irregardless, but it seems to make stronger statements against them than other dictionaries.


Book Winners


I have three more book winners this week. Steve F., Mary N., and Greg V. win a copy of my audiobook: Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips to Clean Up Your Writing. They were entered into the giveaway by signing up for the free e-mail newsletter at QuickAndDirtyTips.com. If you sign up for the newsletter you'll be entered into the giveaway, and you'll also get a free grammar tip and links to all the new show topics. We send it out every couple of weeks.


This week the Mighty 10 Mommy has a show I enjoyed about how to take a break when you're sick. I've had a bad cold, so it hit home. I'm not a mommy, but I still need help figuring out how to take a break when I'm sick.You can find that show, a transcript 11 of this show, my contact information, and a bunch of other great stuff at QuickAndDirtyTips.com.


That's all. Thanks for listening.


 



adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的
  • The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
  • The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽!
n.星系;银河系;一群(杰出或著名的人物)
  • The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
  • The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。
prep.以…为对手,对;与…相比之下
  • The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
  • The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。
n.前缀;vt.加…作为前缀;置于前面
  • We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
  • In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实
  • He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
  • Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候,她不走到真正要昏厥了,决不肯坐下来。
n.后缀;vt.添后缀
  • We add the suffix "ly" to make the adjective "quick" into the adverb " quickly ".我们在形容词“ quick”后加“ly” 构成副词“quickly”。
  • It described the meaning of suffix array and also how to built it.它描述的含义,后缀数组以及如何建立它。
n.牛津(英国城市)
  • At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
  • This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。
n.俗话,白话,口语( colloquialism的名词复数 )
  • There are as many colloquialisms in Japanese as are in Chinese. 中日文中存在着大量的四字熟语。 来自互联网
  • It is getting better, but It'still struggles with colloquialisms and idioms. 机器翻译的质量虽然有所改善,但翻译起口语体和习语来还是困难重重。 来自互联网
adj.强有力的;巨大的
  • A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
  • The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。
n.抄本,誊本,副本,肄业证书
  • A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
  • They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。
学英语单词
air-seasoned timber
allomorphy
anagalligenin
androgenic haploid
antiheparin
audiovisual work
auger process
Bacillus indigogenes
Bendemeer
benzylmalonic acid
bernkopf
biographing
brekkie,brekky
casing bowl
catatonia features specifier
clasp boat
common problems
counter-lateral septum
countersniper
crapand
Date of Issue of Bill of Lading
day dream
defended terrance
diamond airfoil
diphenylbutylpiperidines
double elliptic geometry
doughy sensation
EAF (equivalent availability factor)
Enteryperpathy
ethnic national sovereignty
ex-stepdads
expand and contact freely
fachan
faucial
feurle
find favor with sb
four-headed capstan
gades
galoshes
gauge bar
give permission
gnathosomal groove
Godkowo
grain casting
homerkin
homogeneous number
hotlier
ignore uppercase
infra-red
integrating water sampler
king bolt bush
laser pulp cautery
leadbitters
leashing
machendra
Magill band
marshalling-departure track
michigan model
microcinematography
min max system
minilateralism
Mossuril
Mulderangst
Natal Bk.
not interesting or exciting
orbital maneuvering system
phototropic material
physnamy
plastic reinforcement
population shifts
righthelmet
ruler test
saleable product
Scottsonizing
selenoenzyme
solar azimuth angle
spectral transmission ratio
spiral scanning
stelocyttarous
stereo-mosaic
streufert
sub-channel signal
sudoxicam
syllable structure
tail gate end pillar
Taiyeh Lake
task activation
Taylor's equation
three-db coupler
ticket-holders
tommy logge
touch-down
twinning lamella
umuofia
university-rankings
utero-sacral promontory fixation
Van Duuren code
Warham, William
weightless deposit
ysalamir
zero-shifting