 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsEnglish UsageBritish EnglishESL Teaching Learnglish.com Contact UsLink To UsSearch & Site Map |
Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007(One of) Defoe's favorite word(s)?
Listening to the text of Robinson Crusoe read by Nigel Graham I got somehow sensitive to the word "abate". Why it happened, I don't know. Maybe, the reason was that I was lucky to know its meaning maybe, my attention was triggered by a minimal emphasis set by the speaker. Anyway, the blessings of our times allow a quick count of the word in the entire book and by doing so, one can dig out every single occurrence of it. Total occurrences of abate*: 22 Here are the first occurrences till CHAPTER V. Chapter I ...but the next day the wind was abated,... In a word, as the sea was returned to its smoothness of surface and settled calmness by the abatement of that storm, ... ...and though the storm began to abate a little,... ...and as I stayed away a while, the remembrance of the distress I had been in wore off, and as that abated,... Chapter II ...living very sparingly on our provisions, which began to abate very much, ... Chapter III ...and that the master said the wind began to abate. Now, though we thought that the wind did a little abate, ... ...for though the storm was abated considerably,... I held my hold till the wave abated,... ...and I soon found my comforts abate, ... Chapter IV ...and the storm abated,... I was a little surprised, but recovered myself with the satisfactory reflection that I had lost no time, nor abated any diligence, Is it fair to say that a) even from today's perspective, there is nothing that should be noted, b) it is more of less a typical style of that time, or c) it truly was Defoe's personal style? Regards, Igor > Listening to the text of Robinson Crusoe read by Nigel Graham > I got somehow sensitive to the word "abate". [...] > Chapter I > ...but the next day the wind was abated,... [...] > Is it fair to say that > > a) even from today's perspective, there is nothing that should > be noted, > b) it is more of less a typical style of that time, or > c) it truly was Defoe's personal style? "Abate" is a normal verb that can be encountered in formal writing, but the usage "was abated" is archaic English showing the Germanic roots of the English language when verbs with such meanings still took a form of the the helping verb "be" to form the perfect tenses, as in modern German. The King James Bible, published in 1611, says in the Book of Genesis: "And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated." Modern translations say: "...and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated..." Regards, ----- WB. > > Listening to the text of Robinson Crusoe read by Nigel Graham > > I got somehow sensitive to the word "abate". [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > translations say: "...and the waters receded from the earth > continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated..." Was it the child Macaulay who, having grazed his knee or something, replied to a solicitous lady, "I thank you, madam: the agony is somewhat abated"? It was a "normal" word; but remember that Dan Foe wrote at almost journalistic speed. I can't decide if 22 occurrences in a single book is a lot, though: probably not.  SignatureMike. > Listening to the text of Robinson Crusoe read by Nigel Graham I got > somehow sensitive to the word "abate". [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Total occurrences of abate*: 22 [...] > Is it fair to say that > > a) even from today's perspective, there is nothing that should be > noted, > b) it is more of less a typical style of that time, or > c) it truly was Defoe's personal style? Is your question about the word "abate" itself (e.g. as an unusual and perhaps archaic word) or about the frequency with which Defoe uses it? If the first, then I would say that "abate" is now a rather literary word but still in occasional use. If the second, is its frequency - 22 times in the whole novel - really so notable? To reach a judgment on your points (b) and (c), you would need to do word-counts on other Defoe works and on those of his contemporaries, and not just on "abate", since other authors might have had their own favourite words. A quick search shows many instances of "abate*" in "Moll Flanders", apparently more than in "Robinson Crusoe". However, Defoe's contemporary Swift also uses "abate*" very freely in "Gulliver's Travels". This very limited comparison suggests that the extensive use of "abate" was not a distinguishing feature of Defoe's style. "Of that time"? - perhaps. Let's try Dickens, writing a century or so later: "The Pickwick Papers" (early work) - many "abate"s; "Our Mutual Friend" (last completed novel) - only a single use, as far as I can tell. So perhaps, though much more research would be needed to be certain, "abate" fell out of general use between, say, the late 1830s and the mid-1860s, though NSOED has citations from T.S.Eliot and Anthny Powell. Alan Jones [snip] So perhaps, though much more research > would be needed to be certain, "abate" fell out of general use between, say, > the late 1830s and the mid-1860s, though NSOED has citations from T.S.Eliot > and Anthny Powell. [snip] FWIW, here are a few of the newspaper article titles currently using the word "abate:" {see:] http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&q=abate&btnG=Search+News Inflationary pressures to abate in Ireland newratings.com - Dec 14, 2006 LONDON, December 14 (newratings.com) - Analyst Dermot O'Leary of Goodbody Stockbrokers expects inflationary pressures in Ireland to ease going ahead. ... . Mule deer losses abate, report shows Billings Gazette, MT - Dec 13, 2006 By AP. JACKSON, Wyo. - Mule deer numbers in the Pinedale Anticline area of the Upper Green River Basin appear to have stabilized after several years of ... BHP Reopens Australian Nickel Mine as Rains Abate Bloomberg - Jan 4, 2007 By Madelene Pearson. Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's largest mining company, reopened its Mt. Keith nickel pit in Western Australia ... . No. 6: School officials discover, abate PCB in schools Nevada Appeal, NV - Jan 3, 2007 Churchill County School District officials discovered in the summer of 2006 that many of the aged fluorescent light fixtures used in older Fallon schools ... Lawmakers could help abate beetle devastation Greeley Tribune, CO - Jan 2, 2007 An epidemic gripping Colorado forests is largely the work of Mother Nature, and there isn't much humans can do to stop it. But with creative financing, ... Laughter yoga said to abate sadness Pasadena Star-News, CA - Dec 16, 2006 By Cortney Fielding Staff Writer. The Pasadena resident downright whoops it up. He claps his hands and bounces up and down like a kid in a candy store - a ... Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego > > Listening to the text of Robinson Crusoe read by Nigel Graham I got > > somehow sensitive to the word "abate". [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > still in occasional use. If the second, is its frequency - 22 times in the > whole novel - really so notable? Well, actually another word was even more conspicuous than "abate". It is "devour*": 37 occurances But then I thought, it is not as interesting as "abate". I don't really know what attracted my attention. But once my receptive organs were programmed, I heard those two words all the time. (Currently I am in chapter XIII, where Robinson watches the naked savages through his perspective glass and cannot tell if they are men or women. I really wonder how far he must have been away or maybe the glasses weren't too good at that time.) "As I expected, so it proved; for as soon as the tide made to the westward I saw them all take boat and row (or paddle as we call it) away. I should have observed, that for an hour or more before they went off they were dancing, and I could easily discern their postures and gestures by my glass. I could not perceive, by my nicest observation, but that they were stark naked, and had not the least covering upon them; but whether they were men or women I could not distinguish." > To reach a judgment on your points (b) and (c), you would need to do > word-counts on other Defoe works and on those of his contemporaries, and not [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > the late 1830s and the mid-1860s, though NSOED has citations from T.S.Eliot > and Anthny Powell. Thank you for your research. You put this into real perspective. Again, it was nothing more than an impression or a supposition and, of course, I wanted to talk about _abate_. It is a very interesting and a very important word. Eventually, I think the word itself exercises a great affinity on me. Regards, Igor The Igor (t4a) entity posted thusly: >Listening to the text of Robinson Crusoe read by Nigel Graham I got >somehow sensitive to the word "abate". [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >quick count of the word in the entire book and by doing so, one can dig >out every single occurrence of it. What did you use to do the count? I have often thought it would be a neat thing to write a program to count all the words used in a text file. I was just looking at my version of uniq, written in Rexx, and thinking how easy it would be to make it count words. Of course, it would only count exact words, and abate, abatement, abates, and abated would all be distinct. Useful? Or not? > The Igor (t4a) entity posted thusly: > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > What did you use to do the count? Originally, I used AmiPro 3.1 - an old program. But it is still useful for a number of tasks. When I read your post I tested the same procedure with Winword and it worked also. Here is how it works: Choose replace "abate" with "abate", uncheck the box "only whole words" and click "replace all". Soon after you'll get a report "22 found, 22 replaced". Well, that's it. For all the people who do not trust this void replacement, close the file now, _without saving_ to ensure that the file is really unchanged. (Sorry, I do not have the English version of those programs, so I hope you find the appropriate commands anyway.) > I have often thought it would be a > neat thing to write a program to count all the words used in a text > file. I was just looking at my version of uniq, written in Rexx, and > thinking how easy it would be to make it count words. Of course, it > would only count exact words, and abate, abatement, abates, and abated > would all be distinct. Useful? Or not? Hm... Regards, Igor |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2012 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.