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Chapter 18 / 第18章

To Boldly Verb / 勇敢地动词化 Infinitives / 不定式（infinitive）

The third kind of verbal is easy to recognize, but a bit tricky when you analyze its function in a sentence.

第三种动词性词（verbal）很容易识别，但在分析它在句子中的功能时有点棘手。

INFINITIVES / 不定式

As we said in Chapter 14, an infinitive verb is usually the present form of the verb preceded by the particle to: to laugh, to be, to seem, to break, to pontificate, to discombobulate. There's an infinitive for every verb in English, except the modal auxiliaries.

正如我们在第14章中所说的，不定式动词通常是动词的原形前面加上小品词（particle）to：to laugh, to be, to seem, to break, to pontificate, to discombobulate。英语中每个动词都有不定式，除了情态助动词（modal auxiliary）。

But infinitive verbs are never used as a main verb or as an auxiliary verb. Like the other verbals, infinitives perform the functions of other parts of speech, and infinitives are particularly versatile. Infinitives can be used nominally, adjectivally, and adverbially; but, like ordinary verbs, they can still take complements and be modified by adverbs.

但不定义动词从不作为主要动词或助动词使用。像其他动词性词一样，不定式执行其他词类的功能，而且不定式特别多才多艺。不定式可以作为名词、形容词和副词使用；但是，像普通动词一样，它们仍然可以带补足语（complement）并被副词修饰。

First, infinitives can be used nominally, in any way that you'd use a noun:

首先，不定式可以作为名词使用，以任何你会使用名词的方式：

To quit now would be a mistake. [a subject / 主语]

He likes to run. [a direct object / 直接宾语]

His intention, to explain the law, is reasonable. [an appositive / 同位语]

Our goal is to win. [a predicate nominative / 表语名词]

His intention was to make friends. [another predicate nominative / 另一个表语名词]

To know her is to trust her. [a subject and a predicate nominative / 主语和表语名词]

Notice that sometimes you can recognize nominal infinitives with this simple test: You can often replace them with gerunds without changing the meaning of the sentence:

请注意，有时你可以通过这个简单的测试来识别名词性不定式：你通常可以用动名词（gerund）替换它们而不改变句子的意思：

To quit now would be a mistake. Quitting now would be a mistake.

He likes to run. He likes running.

This test won't work in every instance. It won't work, for example, in To know her is to trust her. (We can't say Knowing her is trusting her.)

这个测试并不适用于所有情况。例如，在 To know her is to trust her 中就行不通。（我们不能说 Knowing her is trusting her。）

Second, infinitives can be used as adjectives, following a noun or certain linking verbs:

其次，不定式可以作为形容词使用，跟在名词或某些系动词之后：

I need a book to read. [a modifier of book / 修饰 book]

An opportunity to succeed is a wonderful thing. [a modifier of opportunity / 修饰 opportunity]

I'd like a chance to explain. [a modifier of chance / 修饰 chance]

Notice that in these examples, the infinitives specify the purpose of the nouns they modify: I need a book. Why? I need a book to read.

请注意，在这些示例中，不定式指定了它们所修饰名词的目的：I need a book。为什么？I need a book to read（我需要一本书来读）。

The following adjectival infinitives follow linking verbs, and they're both predicate adjectives, describing the subject of the sentence:

下面的形容词性不定式跟在系动词之后，它们都是表语形容词（predicate adjective），描述句子的主语：

He appears to have some money. They seem to be jerks.

Notice that, in sentences like these, you can often replace the entire infinitive phrase with a roughly synonymous adjective:

请注意，在这样的句子中，你通常可以用一个大致同义的形容词替换整个不定式短语：

He appears wealthy. They seem arrogant.

Third, infinitives can be used as adverbs, modifying verbs or adjectives. Modifying verbs, the infinitive is often moveable and indicates how or why the action is performed:

第三，不定式可以作为副词使用，修饰动词或形容词。修饰动词时，不定式通常可以移动，并指示动作是如何或为何执行的：

She plays hard to win. [Why does she play hard? / 她为什么努力比赛？]

To succeed, he studies every day. [Why does he study? / 他为什么学习？]

To listen well, you need a quiet place. [Why do you need that quiet place? / 你为什么需要那个安静的地方？]

The adverbial infinitives above, like many adverbs and adverbials, are moveable:

上面的副词性不定式，像许多副词和状语一样，是可以移动的：

To win, she plays hard. He studies every day to succeed.

Modifying adjectives, the adverbial infinitive appears after the adjective and gives you information about the intent or purpose associated with the modified adjective:

修饰形容词时，副词性不定式出现在形容词之后，并为你提供与所修饰形容词相关的意图或目的的信息：

He was ready to study. [For what was he ready? / 他准备好了做什么？]

I'm happy to help. [What are you happy to do? / 你乐意做什么？]

Eager to please, the new employees arrived early. [What are they eager to do? / 他们渴望做什么？]

Notice that the adverbial infinitives in these last three examples are not movable.

请注意，最后三个例子中的副词性不定式是不可移动的。

In a few cases, infinitives are used without the to particle. All of the underlined phrases below are infinitive phrases, but some don't contain the particle:

在少数情况下，不定式不带 to 小品词使用。下面所有划线的短语都是不定式短语，但有些不包含该小品词：

I want him to win the race. I saw him win the race. I allowed him to win the race. I let him win the race. I'll ask him to go. I'll have him go. I'll force him to leave. I'll make him leave.

The absence of the to particle is determined by the verb that precedes the infinitive phrase: A small number of transitive verbs (such as saw, let, make, and have) make the to unnecessary---you simply cannot insert to into those sentences.

是否缺少 to 小品词由不定式短语之前的动词决定：少数及物动词（如 saw, let, make 和 have）使得 to 不再必要——你根本无法将 to 插入那些句子中。

Following most verbs, however, the infinitive must have to. (In the exercises in these chapters, we will always use infinitives with the to particle.)

然而，跟在大多数动词之后，不定式必须有 to。（在本章和后续章节的练习中，我们将始终使用带 to 小品词的不定式。）

By the way, some grammarians call an infinitive that is missing to a bare infinitive (which is about as risqué as grammarians ever get).

顺便说一下，一些语法学家称缺少 to 的不定式为裸不定式（bare infinitive）（这差不多是语法学家最大胆的说法了）。

Like gerunds and participles, infinitives can be used with direct objects, with adverbs, and with other grammatical entities associated with the verb. (See the examples above wherein the race is a direct object.)

像动名词和分词一样，不定式可以与直接宾语、副词以及与动词相关的其他语法实体一起使用。（参见上面的例子，其中 the race 是直接宾语。）

Infinitives can even have subjects, which perform the action of the infinitive:

不定式甚至可以有自己的主语，该主语执行不定式的动作：

I like my children to read every day. [My children is the subject of the infinitive; they do the reading. Every day is an adverbial phrase. / My children 是不定式的主语；他们进行阅读。Every day 是副词短语。]

I like Kelly to enjoy these nightly readings. [Kelly is the subject of the infinitive verb; she does the enjoying. These nightly readings is the direct object of to enjoy. / Kelly 是不定式动词的主语；她进行享受。These nightly readings 是 to enjoy 的直接宾语。]

I need you to go to the store today. [You is the subject; to the store and today are adverbial, modifying the infinitive. / You 是主语；to the store 和 today 是副词，修饰不定式。]

I want her to enjoy reading. [Her is the subject of the infinitive; reading, a gerund, is the direct object of the infinitive. / Her 是不定式的主语；reading 是动名词，是不定式的直接宾语。]

Notice the last example above: When a pronoun precedes the infinitive as the subject of that infinitive, it will (strangely) be in the objective case:

注意上面最后一个例子：当代词作为不定式的主语出现在不定式之前时，它将（奇怪地）使用宾格（objective case）：

I like them to read every day. I need him to go to the store today. I want us to enjoy reading.

PASSIVE INFINITIVES / 被动不定式

All the infinitives we've seen so far are linking or intransitive, or they are transitive and active. But there are other forms.

到目前为止我们看到的所有的不知式都是系动词或不及物动词，或者它们是及物主动的。但还有其他形式。

A less often used but important variant is the passive infinitive, constructed with the infinitive of be (i.e., to be) followed by the past participle of a main verb (to be recognized, to be known, to be continued).

一个较少使用但很重要的变体是被动不定式（passive infinitive），由 be 的不定式（即 to be）后跟一个主要动词的过去分词构成（to be recognized, to be known, to be continued）。

In these examples, nominal passive infinitives follow transitive verbs and function as direct objects:

在这些例子中，名词性被动不定式跟在及物动词之后，充当直接宾语：

I'm nervous about my surgery, so I prefer to be driven to the hospital. I needed to be helped, but no one was nearby. He has longed to be recognized by his colleagues for his contributions. He did not expect to be apprehended by the authorities for his misdeeds.

These passive infinitives are subjects:

这些被动不定式是主语：

To be recognized for his contributions was his goal. To be apprehended was his fear.

Passive infinitives can also be predicate nominatives and appositives:

被动不定式也可以是表语名词和同位语：

His goal was to be recognized for his efforts. He never achieved his goal, to be recognized for his work.

And there are also adverbial passive infinitives. In the following examples, the adverbial passives are moveable:

还有副词性被动不定式。在以下示例中，副词性被动不定式是可移动的：

To be prepared for your finals, study throughout the semester. To be found, the lost hiker built a fire on the hill.

And in the next examples, the adverbial passive infinitives modify the adjectives preceding them:

在接下来的例子中，副词性被动不定式修饰它们前面的形容词：

She was ready to be tested. They were eager to be heard.

PERFECT INFINITIVES / 完成不定式

The infrequently used perfect infinitive is constructed with the auxiliary have (never has or had) followed by the past participle of a main verb (to have known, to have seen, to have continued), as in these examples of nominal perfect infinitives used as subjects:

不经常使用的完成不定式（perfect infinitive）由助动词 have（绝不是 has 或 had）后跟一个主要动词的过去分词构成（to have known, to have seen, to have continued），如下面这些用作主语的名词性完成不定式的例子：

To have known Lincoln would be remarkable. To have heard him deliver the Gettysburg Address would be thrilling. To have continued performing the play after the announcement was impossible.

These perfect infinitive phrases are direct objects:

这些完成不定式短语是直接宾语：

The police did not expect to have apprehended the criminal by this time. We had hoped to have seen our new nephew by this time.

Perfect infinitives can be adverbial, too:

完成不定式也可以是副词性的：

They are known to have lived here for many years.

We seldom encounter the passive and perfect infinitives because we usually express the idea in some simpler way: People know that they lived here for many years.

我们很少遇到被动和完成不定式，因为我们通常以某种更简单的方式表达这个意思：People know that they lived here for many years（人们知道他们在这里住了很多年）。

There are still other, even rarer, forms of the infinitive: They can be perfect progressive (to have been speaking) and passive perfect (to have been shown), but we had hoped to have been finished with this topic by now.

还有另一些甚至更罕见的不定式形式：它们可以是完成进行时（to have been speaking）和被动完成时（to have been shown），但我们本来希望到现在已经完成这个话题了。

POINTS FOR WRITERS / 写作要点

1. The split infinitive. / 分裂不定式

One of the best-known rules of prescriptive grammar says that we must not split infinitives. That is, we must not put an adverb between to and the verb:

规定语法（prescriptive grammar）最著名的规则之一说，我们不能分裂不定式。也就是说，我们不能在 to 和动词之间放一个副词：

He wants to quickly finish college. He wants to finish college quickly.

Work hard to gradually improve your writing. Work hard to improve your writing gradually.

As the second example in each pair demonstrates, it's usually easy to fix a split infinitive. In some contexts, however, many writers occasionally and judiciously do the splits. As in all good writing, tread carefully.

正如每一对中的第二个例子所表明的，修复分裂不定式通常很容易。然而，在某些语境中，许多作家偶尔且明智地选择分裂。如同所有的好写作一样，小心行事。

2. Go dangle your infinitives elsewhere, bub. / 到别处去悬垂你的不定式，伙计。

There can be dangling infinitives, which, like dangling participles, do not clearly or logically work with the rest of the sentence. A passive verb elsewhere in the clause often creates this problem:

也可能有悬垂不定式（dangling infinitive），它们像悬垂分词一样，与句子的其余部分不能清晰或逻辑地配合。从句中其他地方的被动动词经常造成这个问题：

To get to the market today, your chores should be done early. To be heard in this large room, the microphone must be adjusted.

Make the independent clause active, and the infinitive phrase usually makes better sense:

让独立从句变为主动，不定式短语通常更有意义：

To get to the market today, you should do your chores early. To be heard in this large room, we must adjust the microphone.

Respectable people never dangle their infinitives (at least, not in public).

体面的人从不悬垂他们的不定式（至少，不在公开场合）。

EXERCISES / 练习

18a. Identify the function of the nominal infinitives in these sentences:

识别这些句子中名词性不定式的功能：

  1. To become a star was her adolescent dream.
  2. She wants to become a star.
  3. Her dream, to become a star, may never come true.
  4. To live is to dream.
  5. To know him is to love him.
  6. I'd like him to do the project.
  7. He'll ask her to help.
  8. I'm hoping for them to succeed.

18b. Locate the nominal infinitive phrases in these sentences and identify their functions:

找出下列句子中的名词性不定式短语并识别它们的功能：

  1. I need to get some water.
  2. To succeed requires hard work.
  3. To discipline yourself means to make sacrifices. [Hint: means is a linking verb here.]
  4. He explained his goal, to become fluent in German.
  5. He wants to see me in the morning.
  6. It won't be hard for him to see me then.
  7. Would you like to see me, too?
  8. There's time for me to see you.

18c. Identify the functions of the adjectival infinitives in these sentences: What words do they modify?

识别这些句子中形容词性不定式的功能：它们修饰哪些词？

  1. I have the tools to get the job done.
  2. Time to use the tools is what I need now.
  3. Something to open the tool packages would be handy now.
  4. A scissors to open this would be helpful.
  5. I could help if I had some dynamite to open this.
  6. I need a screwdriver to loosen this.
  7. A screwdriver to loosen this would help.
  8. The tool I need, a screwdriver to loosen this, is not here.

18d. Locate the adjectival infinitives in these sentences and identify the words they modify:

找出下列句子中的形容词性不定式并识别它们修饰的词：

  1. Every day we send urgent messages to complain about the service.
  2. She bought me a carry-on bag to take on my trip.
  3. Someone to guide me on the way would be helpful.
  4. I found someone to guide you.
  5. To relax, he needed a book to interest him.
  6. All she asked for was a book to read, a place in which to stay warm, and something to eat.

18e. Identify the functions of the adverbial infinitives in these sentences: What words do they modify?

识别这些句子中副词性不定式的功能：它们修饰哪些词？

  1. To relax, he sang.
  2. He read the book to please his daughter.
  3. To please his daughter, he read the book.
  4. To become a fireman, the young man studied and trained.
  5. The young man studied and trained to become a fireman.
  6. He was eager to become a fireman.
  7. We were happy to help him.
  8. He was careful to speak with me beforehand.

18f. Yet again, locate the adverbial infinitives here and identify the words they modify:

再次找出这里的副词性不定式并识别它们修饰的词：

  1. You need a telescope to be an astronomer.
  2. He was ready to be an astronomer.
  3. She was determined to be an astronomer.
  4. Eager to play ball, the team waited.
  5. Happy to see her friend, Julie cried.
  6. Reluctant to go, the children fidgeted.
  7. We were sorry to leave.
  8. She rose to leave.

18g. Identify all the infinitive phrases, with complements and modifiers, in these sentences and classify them as nominal, adjectival, or adverbial:

识别这些句子中所有带补足语和修饰语的不定式短语，并将它们分类为名词性、形容词性或副词性：

  1. That child needs me to look after her.
  2. To succeed, you have to work hard.
  3. I'm looking for a place to sit down.
  4. To be blunt, I will say that I'm angry at you.
  5. He is trying to impress his boss.
  6. I am not here to impress anyone.
  7. His reason, to impress his boss, is sufficient.
  8. His goal is to impress his boss.
  9. We want her to come to the party.
  10. We hope she'd like to come to the party.

18h. In the following pairs of sentences, read the first sentence and then, using the first sentence as a clue, analyze the grammar in the underlined verbal phrase in the second sentence.

在以下句子对中，阅读第一个句子，然后以第一个句子为线索，分析第二个句子中划线动词性短语的语法。

An example / 示例： Randolph likes Italian food. Randolph likes to eat Italian food. Because likes is a transitive verb, we can reason that, in the first sentence, Italian food is a direct object. So the infinitive phrase in the second sentence must also be a direct object. 因为 likes 是及物动词，我们可以推断，在第一个句子中，Italian food 是直接宾语。因此第二个句子中的不定式短语也必须是直接宾语。

  1. He likes mystery novels. → He likes to read mystery novels.
  2. He reads them before school. → He likes reading them before school.
  3. She is quite ready. → She is ready to sing.
  4. She is very happy. → She is happy to sing.
  5. The smiling opera star took center stage. → Singing the aria loudly, the opera star took center stage.
  6. He annoys us. → His singing arias at 6 a.m. annoys us.
  7. I don't enjoy opera at 6 a.m. → I don't enjoy listening to opera at 6 a.m.
  8. I want music at any time. → I want to listen to opera at any time.

18i. Identify the underlined verbals as gerunds, participles, or infinitives. Then identify the function that the verbal performs in each sentence.

将划线动词性词识别为动名词、分词或不定式。然后识别该动词性词在每个句子中执行的功能。

  1. He likes to read.
  2. He likes reading novels.
  3. Running quickly, he soon arrived at home.
  4. His singing annoyed us.
  5. Known to the entire community, the mayor is respected.
  6. The silent film star, seen but never recognized, lived in our neighborhood.
  7. He wants to earn money.
  8. He writes to learn.
  9. They were prepared to fight.
  10. To succeed, you must be prepared to work hard.