split infinitive

split-infinitive的词性：
n.Grammar （名词）【语法】

1. An infinitive verb form with an element, usually an adverb, interposed between to and the verb form, as in to boldly go.
分裂不定式：连带一词素的不定式形式，通常连一副词，放在to 和动词形式之间，如 to boldly go

split-infinitive的用法：

2. The split infinitive has been present in English ever since the 14th century, but it was not until the 19th century that grammarians first labeled and condemned the usage. In the 20th century many linguists and writers have rallied to its defense. H.W. Fowler chided that class of people “who would as soon be caught putting their knives in their mouths as splitting an infinitive,” but whose aversion springs only “from tame acceptance of the misinterpreted opinion of others.” No plausible rationale has ever been advanced for the rule, though it may arise from a hazy notion that because the Latin infinitive is a single word, the equivalent English construction must be treated as if it were indivisible. Still, many people who dislike the construction avoid it without difficulty.The sense of the sentence To better understand the miners' plight, he went to live in their district is just as easily expressed by To understand the miners' plight better, he went to live in their district. In some cases avoidance of the split infinitive may result in a stylistic improvement. The sentence We are seeking a plan to gradually, systematically, and economically relieve the burden becomes clearer if the adverbs are placed at the end:
分裂不定式在英语中出现于14世纪，但直到19世纪，语法学家才开始标明该式，但轻视其用法。20世纪时，许多语言学家和作家联合抵制该种用法。H·W·福勒谴责这批人说：“分裂不定式仿佛就是用刀子插进他们嘴里一样”，但他们的反对之辞仅仅“来自平淡无奇地认为会对他人意思产生曲解”。没有合理的原理作为规则被提出，尽管可能举出一个模糊的概念，即因为拉丁语的不定式仅为一个单词，所以同样的英语结构须被视作不可分的结构而加以对待。然而，很多不喜欢该结构的人仍能毫无困难地避免使用它。为了更好地理解矿工的困境，他去他们的住宅区生活 可以很容易地表达为： To understand the miners' plight better, he went to live in their district 。 避开使用分裂不定式的许多情况可能会导致风格上的改进。我们正在寻求一项计划以期逐渐地、系统地、经济地减轻负担 这句话，如果副词放在句尾，句子意思会变得更加清楚：

We are seeking a plan to relieve the burden on our employees gradually, systematically, and economically.
我们正在寻求一项旨在逐渐地、系统地和经济地减轻雇工负担的计划。

3. (In an earlier survey the example having the split infinitive was accepted by only 23 percent of the Usage Panel.) But in other cases the effort to avoid a split infinitive may have unfortunate consequences. In The tenant coalition is planning to aggressively seek cooperative ownership of the apartments the city acquired, any attempt to reposition the adverb aggressively would create an ambiguity. In We intend to use every political favor we are owed to soundly defeat this bill and its riders, any other position will create an unnatural rhythm. In We expect our output to more than double in a year, the phrase more than is intrinsic to the sense of the infinitive phrase, though the split infinitive could be avoided by use of another phrase, such as to increase by more than 100 percent. In this example the split infinitive is accepted by 87 percent of the Usage Panel. ·Excessive zeal in avoiding the split infinitive may result in an unnecessarily awkward placement of adverbs in constructions involving the auxiliary verbs be and have. When we read sentences like I want this clearly to be understood, we may suspect that the placement of clearly is the result of an effort to avoid the construction to be clearly understood, under the misapprehension that the latter involves a split infinitive. By the same token, there are no grounds for objecting to the position of the adverb in the sentence
（在早期调查中，这个具有分裂不定式的例子仅被用语专家组的23%接受）。但在其他情况下，避免分裂不定式的努力会造成不幸的后果。在句子雇工联盟正在计划积极地寻找这座城市所需要的合作精神 中， 任何企图改变副词aggresively 的位置都将造成混乱。 在句子我们打算使用我们所拥有的每项政治权力合理地推翻这个议案和它的支持者 中， 任何其他形式将产生一个不自然的节律。在句子我们期望我们的产量在一年之后超过现在的两倍 中， 短语more than 是不定式本来的意思， 尽管通过另外一词可以避开使用分裂不定式，如百分之百地增加。 在此例中，有87%的专家小组成员接受分裂不定式的用法。在一个包括辅助性动词be 和 have 的结构中，过分积极地避免使用分裂不定式可能会导致副词的不合适的位置。 当我们读到诸如此类的句子我想要这被清楚地理解 时， 我们可能会怀疑clearly 这一词的位置是避免使用 to be clearly understood 这一结构的结果， 这是认为后者包括分裂不定式的误解。基于同样的原因，反对下面这个句子中副词的位置也没有理由：

He is committed to laboriously assembling all of the facts of the case.
他被委托要辛苦地汇集此案的所有事实。

4. What is “split” here is not an infinitive but a prepositional phrase.
这里的“分裂”不是不定式，而是一个前置短语