Taken Aback

Taken Aback Taken Aback Taken Aback By Maeve Maddox A reader encountering the expression â€Å"taken aback† looked it up in the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, where he found this example of usage: â€Å"I was a little taken aback at the directness of the question.† However, he also found â€Å"taken aback by† and â€Å"taken aback that† in other printed sources. He wants to know what rule, if any, determines what word should follow the expression. â€Å"Taken aback† is used as an adjective meaning â€Å"shocked, amazed, astounded.† In modern usage, it is frequently followed by an adjective complement. Note: An adjective complement is a clause or phrase that adds to the meaning of an adjective or modifies it. The adjective complement always follows the adjective it complements and is a noun clause or a prepositional phrase. A web search yields numerous examples of â€Å"taken aback† followed by a noun clause beginning with that: New Jersey imam â€Å"taken aback† that his mosque was under surveillance Which actress thinks you’re taken aback that she’s ‘easygoing but not necessarily stupid’? Im a little taken aback that you have reg priced a Hasbro F/X star wars lightsaber at 48.00 then put it at 50% off. I was taken aback that this kind of diatribe could actually make [its] way to the general public. When â€Å"taken aback† is followed by a prepositional phrase, the usual preposition used is by, although both with and at are seen. The adverb aback has been in the language since Old English times. Two of its meanings are â€Å"in a backward direction† and â€Å"behind.† As an adverb with the figurative meaning of â€Å"in the past,† aback still occurs in regional dialect: â€Å"Werent it you I saw ride that grey mare over on Wondala a couple of years aback?†(OED example: A. Agar Queensland Ringer (2008) v. 40).â€Å"   Ã‚   The earliest OED example of â€Å"taken aback† to mean â€Å"surprised,† â€Å"shocked,† or â€Å"disconcerted† is dated 1751. This sense arose from a sailing term: taken aback: (transitive verb in the passive) Of a sail: to be suddenly pressed back against the mast, preventing forward progress, either through bad steering or a change in the wind. Of a ship, etc.: to be caught in this way. A person who is â€Å"taken aback† is momentarily â€Å"thrown off course† by some event or remark. Of the 18 examples offered in the OED for both the literal and figurative use of the expression, only four are followed by a prepositional phrase, two of which are governed by with and two of which begin with by. Other dictionaries offer usage examples with the preposition at, but a search on the Google Ngram Viewer suggests that by is by far the most common choice. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Farther vs. FurtherEnglish Grammar 101: Verb MoodWriting a Thank You Note