密歇根新闻广播 alum缩写的真实含义

 

Evidence suggests that some people are throwing up their hands, and others are grabbing their dictionaries when confronted by the multiple forms of a word that describes someone who has graduated from a school.

We should point out that this "evidence" is purely¹ anecdotal. But that doesn't mean it's not worth exploring.

So what do you call a former student?

The conundrum² here stems from the fact that there are two forms of the word in question, one masculine and one feminine.

Let's start with the masculine "alumnus." This one is borrowed from Latin, and it comes into English in the 17th century as a term for a male student who's still in school. By the 19th century, it comes to refer to a former student, typically male.

By the 20th century, "alumnus" is no longer exclusive to someone who attended school -- for example, you can be an alumnus of an organization. Around this time we also get the feminine form "alumna³." Like alumnus, alumna first refers to a female student who's currently at school and then later to a former student.

Time to make things a little more complicated. Since we have two different terms for former students, why not have different plural⁴ forms as well? "Alumnus" becomes "alumni" and "alumna" becomes "alumnae⁵." You can thank Latin for that.

Now, when we first asked you what you call a former student, some of you may have immediately thought of "alum." The beauty of this abbreviation is that it's a catch-all and lets you avoid making a gender⁶ distinction.

Think about it. What if you have a mixed group of former students? The rules of formal language tell us to default to the historically masculine form "alumni," but why do that when alums covers all the bases?

This abbreviation may sound too informal to some. Remember though, there are plenty of other abbreviations that started off that way but have become pretty standard. Think about how often you hear "lab" instead of "laboratory," "dorm" instead of "dormitory," and "flu" instead of "influenza⁷."

Are there other words with multiple forms that make you want to throw your dictionary at a wall? Let us know at [email protected] or [email protected].

1 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

2 conundrum   

n.谜语；难题

参考例句：

• Let me give you some history about a conundrum.让我给你们一些关于谜题的历史。
• Scientists had focused on two explanations to solve this conundrum.科学家已锁定两种解释来解开这个难题。

3 alumna   

n.女校友，女毕业生 (pl.alumnae)

参考例句：

• I came across a old alumna in the street this morning.今天早上我在街上碰见一位老校友。
• My alumni and alumna are present at my birthday party.我的男校友和女校友都出席了我的生日聚会。

4 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。

5 alumnae   

n.女毕业生，女校友；女校友( alumna的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Alumnae Association is my link to the school's present administration. 女校友协会是我和现在学校行政部门之间的纽带 来自《简明英汉词典》
• My two sisters are both alumnae of George Washington High school. 我两个姊姊都是乔治华盛顿高级中学的毕业生。 来自互联网

6 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

7 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。