从《经济学人》的来信聊一聊“分裂不定式”
很久没有读The Economist，吃早饭的时候听了听最新的一期推送，发现点好玩的。一位读者来信写道关于Data这个词单复数的用法：
这位读者是对2.11期David Chaplin来信的回应。他强调的是data这个词在“scientific and medical literature” 领域内需要是用复数，要不然会显得没文化。David Chaplin之前是这样说的：
data是复数还是单数？我们动手查查字典就解决了。SOED上说data在“historically and in specialzied scientfic fields”中data被用作事复数，但是在non-scientific use中经常被用于单数。
除了字典上的解释外，我手头有一些比较权威的参考书，每当我有疑问的时候就召唤它们出来，例如这两本：
第一本Practical English Usage我和大家介绍过，现在也有它的app版本，查询起来非常的方便。
除了告诉我们data的用法外，还指出这是一个“久错成对”的现象。
手头一定要有几本靠谱的字典和参考书！问别人之前自己先做足功课，这样记得牢，还能顺便收获点其它的。
David Chaplin的信中提到了1.21期中对Slipt infinitive的讨论，我把它找了出来：
在12.24的文章Breaching-point中有这样一句：
At a computer-security conference in 2015, researchers demonstrated how wirelessly to hack a car made by Jeep, spinning its steering wheel or slamming on its brakes.
这位读者提出The Economist太死心眼了，这句话写成how to wirelessly hack才自然准确。这里涉及的是有关split infinitive, “分裂不定式”的问题。我们都知道不定式（infinitive）的一般格式是to do，把它“分裂”开指的是在to和do之间加入一个第三者（一般是一个副词），例如to happily write。有人认为把不定式分开是不对的，但是这是一个普遍存在的现象。例如Star Trek中的经典开场：“勇踏前人未至之境”。
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
The Economist在它的Style Guide中提到了他们对split infinitive的态度：
Happy the man who have never been told that it is wrong to split an infinitive: the ban is pointless. Unfortunately, to see the rule broken is so annoying to so many people that you should observe it. To never split an infinitive is quite easy.
《经济学人》认为规定不定式不能分开是"pointless"，但是为了不惹麻烦，那就遵守这个规定就好了。这和Grammar Girl（Mignon Fogarty）的观点差不多：
The only logical reason to avoid splitting infinitives is that there are still a lot of people who mistakenly think it is wrong. If you write from a position of power, split your infinitives as much as you want. Be guided by the sound and flow of your sentence. On the other hand, if you have to please others or avoid complaints, it’s safer to avoid splitting infinitives. There's no reason to deliberately split infinitives when you know it's going to upset people.
https://is.gd/LGX3J6
William Strunk, Jr. 和E.B. White的The Element of Style中说：“有些不定式似乎分裂了更好，恰如圆炉用的劈柴劈开更好烧”。
The split infinitive is another trick of rhetoric in which the ear must be quicker than the handbook. Some infinitives seem to improve on being split, just as a stick of round stovewood does. 'I cannot bring myself to really like the fellow.' The sentence is relaxed, the meaning is clear, the violation is harmless and scarcely perceptible. Put the other way, the sentence becomes stiff, needlessly formal. A matter of ear.
《语法新思维》系列的作者张满胜谈到如何学习语法时说要“见人皆所见，思人所未思”，从“见”到“思”是学习意识，从“思”到“懂”需要学习能力。读一读查一查，再和别人分享一下，慢慢就会发现你掌握了把难题解构重组的能力，练成了降龙十八掌指日可待。