VOA慢速英语2021--How to Split Infinitives

 

Your English teacher may have told you, "Do not split infinitives²." But if you have been reading Everyday Grammar for the past few years, you already know that we no longer worry so much about this rule.

As a student of grammar, you likely know that an infinitive¹ usually begins with the word "to" and is followed by a verb in its base form. We can see examples of infinitives in many news stories about the Delta³ variant⁴ of COVID-19, such as "to spread" in this sentence:

The Delta variant is able to spread faster than the original virus.

A split infinitive happens when an adverb or other modifier is placed between "to" and the verb. For example, we could add the adverb "rapidly" to this sentence:

Because of vaccine⁵ hesitancy, Dr. Antony Fauci expected COVID-19 rates to rapidly increase.

In this case, the sentence would also be correct in this form:

Because of vaccine hesitancy, Dr. Antony Fauci expected COVID-19 rates to increase rapidly.

But there are other cases where you cannot change the word order. Staying with the health crisis, we read that:

Coronavirus cases due to the Delta variant are predicted to more than double in some states.

Here, the verb "to double" means to increase by 100 percent.

If you are reading along with the story you will see a star before the next example sentence. That means it has incorrect grammar. For those of you listening, I will just say "star" before the incorrect sentence.

So it would be incorrect to change this sentence to:

*Coronavirus cases due to the Delta variant are predicted to double more than in some states.

The same thing is true of the modifiers "up to," and "over." For example, we can make this sentence:

The CDC says the Delta variant has the ability to up to triple infection rates in coming weeks.

But as with "more than," the sentence would not be correct if you put "up to" after the infinitive or moved it before the "to" of the infinitive.

* The CDC says the Delta variant has the ability to triple up to infection rates in coming weeks.

The reason for these split infinitives has to do with the nature of the modifiers "more than," "up to" and "over." The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language calls these "prepositional modifiers." Like prepositions in general, they must appear immediately next to the expression they combine with.

Famous split infinitive

If you have trouble remembering what a split infinitive is, you can think of a famous one in popular culture. The television show Star Trek⁶ always begins by describing its mission:

...to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before!

Here, the adverb "boldly" appeared within the infinitive "to go."

As the Olympics ended this week, we heard about the medal count for each country. The United States brought home 39 gold medals, while the People's Republic of China earned 38. How would you use the verb "to match" to describe this situation?

The answer is...

The People's Republic of China was able to nearly match the U.S. for gold medals in the Olympics.

Can you identify the split infinitive in that example? Would it work to change the order of the words? Write your answer in the comments.

And that's Everyday Grammar!

Words in This Story

variant – n. something that is different in some way from others of the same kind

original – adj. existing since the beginning

modify – v. (grammar) to limit or describe the meaning of (a word or group of words)

hesitant – adj. slow to act (vaccine hesitancy is delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccination⁷ despite availability of vaccination services)

match – v. to be as good as someone or something else

1 infinitive   

n.不定词；adj.不定词的

参考例句：

• The use of the split infinitive is now generally acceptable.分裂不定式的用法现在已被广泛接受。
• Modal verbs generally take the bare infinitive.情态动词通常用不带to的不定式。

2 infinitives   

n.（动词）不定式( infinitive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Her litmus test for good breeding is whether you split infinitives. 她测试别人是否具有良好教养的标准是看对方是否在不定式的动词前加修饰副词。 来自互联网
• Nouns, adjectives and infinitives can be used as objective complements. 名词，形容词及不定式可用作补语。 来自互联网

3 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

4 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

5 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

6 trek   

vi.作长途艰辛的旅行；n.长途艰苦的旅行

参考例句：

• We often go pony-trek in the summer.夏季我们经常骑马旅行。
• It took us the whole day to trek across the rocky terrain.我们花了一整天的时间艰难地穿过那片遍布岩石的地带。

7 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。