密歇根新闻广播 fraught可以独立使用吗

fraught¹可以独立使用吗

The word "fraught," when used alone, is fraught with questions. At least, for some speakers of English.

A couple of listeners have written to us recently, wanting to know if "fraught" can stand on its own. For example, "The situation is now fraught."

Both listeners were under the impression that the word "fraught" should be used with "with," as in, "I was fraught with emotion."

"Fraught" is a past participle of a verb that is either "fraught" or "freight." It meant "laden," which makes a lot of sense if you think about a freight train.

At first, "fraught" was used to talk about ships, but it later expands to be used with people. For example, "He was fraught with pain." From there, it expands even further to describe attributes of something. You could say "the path was fraught with danger" or "the task was fraught with difficulty."

You could even say that something was fraught with blessings². If that sounds strange to you, it's probably because we're used to hearing "fraught" used in contexts that are generally negative. That helps explain why "fraught," when used on its own, has come to describe something that is distressing³.

Ben Zimmer, a language columnist⁴ for the Wall Street Journal, discovered that in the 19th century, we started to see compounds like "pain-fraught," "danger-fraught," and "emotion fraught." Zimmer's guess is that we went from "emotion fraught," to "emotionally fraught," to eventually just "fraught."

We actually have examples of "fraught" being used on its own that go back to the 1920s. Here's one from 1967: "Sleep didn't often withhold⁵ her favors from me, but if she did, it was always when the next day was going to be particularly fraught."

In "Modern American Usage," linguist⁶ Bryan Garner⁷ says that using "fraught" on its own is a change that has happened. We just need to accept that "fraught" can occur by itself or with "with," and both uses are fine.

1 fraught   

adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的

参考例句：

• The coming months will be fraught with fateful decisions.未来数月将充满重大的决定。
• There's no need to look so fraught!用不着那么愁眉苦脸的！

2 blessings   

n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福

参考例句：

• Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 distressing   

a.使人痛苦的

参考例句：

• All who saw the distressing scene revolted against it. 所有看到这种悲惨景象的人都对此感到难过。
• It is distressing to see food being wasted like this. 这样浪费粮食令人痛心。

4 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。

5 withhold   

v.拒绝，不给；使停止，阻挡

参考例句：

• It was unscrupulous of their lawyer to withhold evidence.他们的律师隐瞒证据是不道德的。
• I couldn't withhold giving some loose to my indignation.我忍不住要发泄一点我的愤怒。

6 linguist   

n.语言学家；精通数种外国语言者

参考例句：

• I used to be a linguist till I become a writer.过去我是个语言学家，后来成了作家。
• Professor Cui has a high reputation as a linguist.崔教授作为语言学家名声很高。

7 garner   

v.收藏；取得

参考例句：

• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals.他的提议得到了广泛的支持。
• Squirrels garner nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬储存松果。