| 单词 | 有歧义 |
| 释义 | 〔pollster〕An understanding of the history of the-ster in pollster may perhaps raise more questions than it answers. In the first place apollster does not have to be a woman, despite the fact that the suffix-ster, originally-estre in Old English, was used to form feminine agent nouns.Hoppestere, for example, meant "female dancer.” But in Old English-estre was occasionally applied to men, although perhaps largely or completely in the case of translations of Latin masculine nouns denoting occupations that were held by women in Anglo-Saxon society.An example isbæcester, "baker,” glossing Latinpistor; it survives as the Modern English nameBaxter. In Middle Englishthe suffix was still largely feminine in the south of Englandbut masculine and feminine in the north,a tendency that became general in English starting with the 16th century.As an example of this tendencyseamster was remade into the feminineseamstress. In Modern English the suffix is usually derogatory.This use probably arose from the occurrence of the suffix with ambiguous verbs,such asgame, "to play at sports, to play at sex,” or with pejorative verbs,such asrime or rhyme. In some modern formations on neutral words-ster is not derogatory, as inyoungster (1589), but in most cases,as withpollster (1939), -ster has pejorative force. 对于pollster 中的 -ster 的历史的理解也许会引发比它能回答的问题更多的问题。 首先pollster 不一定非得是妇女， 尽管-ster 这一后缀， 源于古英语中的-estre ， 被用来构成阴性名词。比如hoppestere 一词意为“女舞蹈者。” 但在古英语中-estre 也偶尔可以用在男性身上， 虽然也许这种情况大多或者完全出现在表示盎格鲁-撒克逊社会中由妇女从事的职业的一些阳性拉丁文名词的翻译中。其中一个例子是boecester 意为“面包师”， 来自拉丁语的pistor； 这个词在现代英语名字Baxter 中保存了下来。 在中世纪英语中，该后缀在英格兰南部仍然主要地被用作阴性，但在英格兰北部却被同时用作阳性和阴性，而后一种趋势自16世纪以来逐渐在英语中变得普遍。反映这种趋势的一个例子是seamster ， 该词被改造成了阴性的seamstress。 在现代英语中这一后缀通常是含贬义的。这种用法可能是因为此后缀与一些有歧义的动词合用而产生的，比如game 可表示“进行体育活动，进行性游戏，” 或者是因为与轻蔑动词合用而产生的，比如rime 或 rhyme。 在某些现代英语中性名词中，-ster 不是贬损的， 如在youngster (1589年）中， 但在大多数情况下，如pollster (1939年）这个词中 -ster 仍是有贬义的 〔all〕The constructionall that is used informally in questions and negative sentences to mean "to the degree expected,” as inI know it won an Oscar, but the film is not all that exciting. In an earlier survey, the Usage Panel rejected the use of this construction in formal writing. · Sentences of the formAll X's are not Y may be ambiguous. All of the departments did not file a report may mean that some departments did not file, or that none did. If the first meaning is intended,it can be unambiguously expressed by the sentenceNot all of the departments filed a report. If the second meaning is intended, a paraphrase such asNone of the departments filed a report or All of the departments failed to file a report can be used. Note that the same problem can arise with other universal terms likeevery in negated sentences, as in the ambiguousEvery department did not file a report. See Usage Note at every all that 这种句法作为非正式用语用于问句和否定句中，意思为“达到所期望的程度地”， 如我知道这部影片获了奥斯卡奖，但它并不那么激动人心 一句中。 在早先的一次调查中，用法使用小组不同意在正式书面语中用这一短语。All X's are not Y 类型的句子可能会造成歧义。 All of the departrnents did not file a report 可以指一些部门没有提出，也可以指没有一个部门提出。 如果指的是第一个意思，它可以通过以下这句话明确地表达出来，Not all of the departments file a report。 如果指的是第二个意思，如None of the departments file a report 或者 All of the departments failed to file a report 都可以把意思表达清楚。 注意这种情况在其他整体词如every 用在否定句时也会碰到， 如下面这个有歧义的句子Every department did not file a report 参见 every |
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