英语语法：194 On Accident Versus by Accident

Grammar Girl here. Today I'm going to talk about on accident versus¹ by accident and how language changes.

Some of the most difficult questions I get are from non-native English speakers who want to know why we use a particular preposition in a specific phrase. Why do we say I'm in bed instead of I'm on bed? Do people suffer from a disease or suffer with a disease? Are we in a restaurant or at a restaurant? I’m a native English speaker, so my first thought is usually something like, “I don't know why; in bed just sounds right,” and sometimes either option seems correct.

Here's a question that a few people have asked:

Hi Grammar Girl. This is Tom Kennedy from Pleasanton, CA. What is the deal with the term on accident? I've always used by accident, but I've noticed a lot of pretty smart people . . . I've noticed them using on accident. So, am I wrong?

Sometimes when I get questions like this I can find an answer, and sometimes I can't. In this case, I hit pay dirt!  I was lucky enough to find an entire research paper on the topic, published by Leslie Barratt, a professor of Linguistics² at Indiana State University (1). 

According to Barratt's study, use of the two different versions appears to be distributed by age. Whereas³ on accident is common in people under 35, almost no one over 40 says on accident. Most older people say by accident. It's really amazing: the study says that “on is more prevalent⁴ under age 10, both on and by are common between the ages of 10 and 35, and by is overwhelmingly⁵ preferred by those over 35.” I definitely prefer by accident.

An interesting conclusion from the paper is that although there are some hypotheses⁶, nobody really knows why younger people all over the U.S. started saying on accident instead of by accident. For example, there's the idea that on accident is parallel to on purpose, but nobody has proven that children all across the country started speaking differently from their parents because they were seeking parallelism. Although I have no proof, I suspect that it must have something to do with nationwide media since it is such a widespread age-related phenomenon. Barney & Friends started airing about 30 years ago, so maybe it's Barney's fault! But really, all we can say is that it's just one of those language things that happens sometimes.

Finally, although there is at least one source stating that on accident is an error (2), and Shelly from Texas asked me to do what I can to ban on accident, Barratt found that there is no widespread stigma⁷ associated with saying on accident. In addition, it seems to me that as those kids who say on accident grow up (some of whom are even unaware⁸ that by accident is an option, let alone the preferred phrase of grown-ups) on accident will become the main, accepted phrase. By that time, there won't be enough of us who say by accident left to correct them!

That's all!
I have two copies of my audiobook to give away this week. Cortis and Sandy have won a copy of Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips to Clean Up Your Writing. And don't forget that you can get a free download of the audiobook at audible.com/grammar if you're a new Audible.com customer, or you can buy it at iTunes if you prefer.

If you have a question, my e-mail address is。。。and my voice-mail line is 206-338-GIRL.

Thanks for listening.

 

1 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• 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。

2 linguistics   

n.语言学

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。

3 whereas   

conj.而，却，反之

参考例句：

• They want a house,whereas we would rather live in a flat.他们想要一座房子，而我们宁愿住在一套房间里。
• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。

4 prevalent   

adj.流行的，普遍的

参考例句：

• The habit of travelling by aeroplane is becoming more prevalent.乘飞机旅行的习惯变得越来越盛行了。
• Colds are prevalent in the winter.伤风在冬季很普遍。

5 overwhelmingly   

adv.压倒性地；不可抵抗地

参考例句：

• They voted overwhelmingly against the proposal. 他们以压倒多数票否决了该提案。
• The local economy is overwhelmingly dependent on oil and gas extraction. 当地经济过于依赖石油和天然气的开采。

6 hypotheses   

（有少量事实依据但未被证实的）假说( hypothesis的名词复数 )； 假设； （凭空的）猜想； 猜测

参考例句：

• The hypotheses of fibre flaws are based on deduction from mechanical experiments. 纤维缺陷的理论是根据机械测试推导出来的。
• I have in mind the existence of sociological laws or hypotheses. 我想，社会科学规律或假说是存在的。

7 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。

8 unaware   

a.不知道的，未意识到的

参考例句：

• They were unaware that war was near. 他们不知道战争即将爆发。
• I was unaware of the man's presence. 我没有察觉到那人在场。