英语语法：88 Splitting Verbs

Grammar Girl here.

Today's topic is how a verb and an adverb messed up the inauguration¹.

I took a break from work Tuesday to watch Barack Obama's inauguration, and like millions of other people, I saw a bit of confusion between Chief Justice John Roberts and Obama during the oath of office. Roberts started reading the oath for Obama to repeat: I Barack Hussein Obama." And then there was a problem. Obama started to repeat him at the same time Roberts started to give the next part of the oath: do solemnly swear. Roberts seemed a little unsettled and then put the adverb "faithfully" in the wrong place in the next part of the oath. Obama seemed to know it was wrong, paused, and seemed to urge Roberts to try again. Roberts got it right the second time, but Obama repeated it the incorrect way Roberts had said it the first time.

Here's what it sounded like:

There are two grammar issues going on with the misplaced "faithfully": modifier placement and verb splitting.

Modifier Placement

The first question is does it change the meaning of the sentence to put the adverb "faithfully" at the end of the sentence instead of right before the word "serve"? Does it matter whether Obama swore that he would faithfully execute the office of the president or would execute the office of the president faithfully? Just looking at the meaning of the sentence, it doesn't matter. It means the same thing whether the adverb is right before the verb or at the end. Some grammarians say it's better to put the modifier directly before the verb (1), so they would prefer "to faithfully execute," but it's more of a style issue than a hard-and-fast rule.

Sometimes a modifier at the end of the sentence can impart a surprising meaning, although that isn't the case with the oath. But imagine an oath where someone swore to uphold the office of the president secretly or humorlessly. It would be weird² to hear someone say they would humorlessly uphold the office of the president, but it would pack more of a surprising punch if the oath taker said he would uphold the office of the president humorlessly. You'd hear that "humorlessly" at the end and you'd probably do a double take, thinking "What did he just say." So placing a modifier at the end of a sentence is a stylistic tool you can sometimes use to achieve surprise in your writing.

I think it's an interesting side note that although the mixed up oath didn't have an altered meaning, and the U.S. Constitution doesn't seem to require the new president to take the oath (2), Roberts and Obama went through the oath a second time in front of a small group of reporters to make sure no legal problems would arise from their flub. But back to grammar.

Verb Splitting

The second topic we can think about is verb splitting. Most of you have probably heard of the grammar myth that you can't split infinitives⁴. It's a myth, and if you haven't heard it or disagree, you can check out Grammar Girl Episode 9, which is only available on the quickanddirtytips.com website. It's not on the feed anymore.

Now if Obama were promising⁵ to faithfully execute the office, then "faithfully" would be splitting the infinitive³ "to execute." But the exact phrasing of the oath isn't "to faithfully execute," instead it's "I will faithfully execute the office." So it's not a split infinitive because there's no "to." It's called a split verb phrase, but the concept is exactly the same as a split infinitive and it's also OK to do it, just as it's OK to split an infinitive. The verb phrase is "will execute." "Will" is an auxiliary⁶ verb. To say you will faithfully execute uses the word "faithfully" to split the verb phrase "will execute."

The famous psychologist and linguist⁷ Stephen Pinker had an interesting op-ed piece in the New York Times yesterday in which he noted⁸ that even though it's not against the rules to split a verb phrase, Chief Justice Roberts has shown a tendency in past writings to avoid it (3). I want to stress that it's not a rule (4); it's fine to split verb phrases, but it seems as if Roberts thinks it's a rule, and Pinker speculates that when Roberts was thrown off by the interruption, he rephrased the oath in his head to fit his view of how sentences should be written.

We'll never really know what was going through Obama's and Roberts' heads during the inauguration. The bottom line is that it's fine to split verb phrases, but some people -- powerful people like the Chief Justice -- think it's not. It's just like splitting infinitives and other grammar myths: If you're going to do it, you should be prepared to defend yourself.

So, who would have thought that the inauguration would lead to an interesting grammar discussion? Grammar pops up everywhere. If you go to the transcript⁹ of this episode on the Grammar Girl website you can find the YouTube video of Obama taking the oath and watch it for yourself again; and if you want to go on a hunt, Dianne Feinstein also made a small gaffe¹⁰ that jumped out at me, but I can't find a video of it anywhere. I think it was during the transition between music and Obama's speech, but I'm not certain.

Administrative¹¹

I'm Mignon Fogarty, author of Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, which is available where all fine books are sold. If you like this podcast, you might also enjoy my free email newsletter which contains daily grammar tips. You can sign up on the Grammar Girl page at quickanddirtytips.com.

That's all. Thanks for listening.

 

1 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

2 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

3 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。

4 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

5 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

6 auxiliary   

adj.辅助的，备用的

参考例句：

• I work in an auxiliary unit.我在一家附属单位工作。
• The hospital has an auxiliary power system in case of blackout.这家医院装有备用发电系统以防灯火管制。

7 linguist   

n.语言学家；精通数种外国语言者

参考例句：

• I used to be a linguist till I become a writer.过去我是个语言学家，后来成了作家。
• Professor Cui has a high reputation as a linguist.崔教授作为语言学家名声很高。

8 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

9 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

10 gaffe   

n.（社交上令人不快的）失言，失态

参考例句：

• I had no idea of the gaffe which I was committing.我不清楚我犯了什么错误。
• He made an embarrassing gaffe at the convention last weekend.他在上周末的会议上出了洋相，狼狈不堪。

11 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。