aware

aware

1. Aware is generally predicative in use, i.e. it stands after a noun or as a complement after a verb such as be, become, grow, seem, etc. It can be followed by of or a that-clause:

• I had to be aware of…the balance between committed pro-marketeers and committed anti-marketeers —Harold Wilson, 1976

• The young people are well aware that they are being ripped off by these parasites —Frendz, 1971.

2. In the 20c, uses of aware either alone or attributively (before a noun) have become more common in the generalized meanings ‘well-informed’ and ‘alert to circumstances’ which do not refer to particular items of knowledge:

• Revolutionarily aware people can't be fooled by these kinds of people —Frendz, 1971

• The painfully aware state that seems to have succeeded her earlier calm —Anita Brookner, 1985

• The people concerned are caring, concerned and aware —and you haven't the faintest idea what they're talking about. —Times, 1986.

Use with a qualifying adverb, as in environmentally aware, is also well attested, both attributively and predicatively.

3. The noun awareness has developed a corresponding generalized meaning:

• Lord Scarman recognises that the awareness campaign needs forcefully to target the government —City Limits, 1986.