Either…or…带主语的主谓一致问题

朱祖厚

关于Either … or… (neither… nor也差不多)带主语的主谓一致问题，中国英语语法界总是机械地坚持就近原则，丝毫不顾及英语的实际使用情况，也不参考英美的权威语法书的论述，自编自造不符合英美人用法习惯的汉语式英语句子，例如：Either you or I am wrong. 这样的句子充斥中国语法大师们的语法专著里，甚至《新英汉词典》里也收录了。这样别扭的句子，因为别扭，在应试教育的语境中，还特别容易引起命题者们的兴趣，因为这是能够考倒学生的好东东，老师们就不得不出这样的练习和考题，以应付高一级的考试。昨天就看到莆田擢英中学暑假学生作业里就有这样的题目：Either you or I _____ wrong. 要求学生填入的答案是am。这个句子从语法上看是正确的，但是不符合惯用法，不符合以英语为母语的人们的说话习惯。

现在笔者就引用一些英美权威的语法和惯用法著作的论述，希望引起语法著述者、课外辅导书籍编制者和第一线的英语老师们注意，不要再坚持不该坚持的东西，也让学生能够学习更轻松一些。

美国的EVANS 夫妇著有很权威的A DICTIONARY OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN USAGE (《当代美语用法词典》，RANDOM, NEW YORK, 1957) 。该书的第23页说：根据就近原则，我们应该说 Either he/ you or I am responsible. 然而这个所谓“正确”的形式几乎都不会被听到。有些人会使用is，有些人会用 are，但是大多数人会避免在is, are, am三者之间做选择，而是说：Either he is responsible or I am.

原文为：According to the rules, the last p ronoun is the decisive and we should say ‘Either he/you or I am responsible.’ This “correct” form is seldom heard. Some people would use is and some people would use are in each of these constructions. But most people would avoid the question by saying ‘Either he is responsible or I am.’

下面是《英语在用—剑桥高级英语语法》 Martin Hewings（英）, 剑桥大学出版社1999，外语教学与研究出版社2001）里的英文原文：

When a subject is made up of two or more items joined by (either) ...or... or (neither) ...nor... we

use a singular verb if the last item is singular (although a plural verb is sometimes used in informal English), and a plural verb if it is plural:

主语由either... or... / neither... nor... 构成时，如果最后一项主语是单数，谓语动词就用单数（在非正式英语中有时也用复数）：

• Either the station or the cinema is a good place to meet, (or ...are... in informal English)

• Neither the President nor his representatives are to attend the meeting.

If the last item is singular and the previous item plural, we can use a singular or plural verb:

如果最后一项是单数并且前一项是复数，我们可以用单数或者复数的谓语动词：

• Either the teachers or the principal is (or are) to blame for the accident.

下面是《剑桥英语用法指南》剑桥大学出版社2004的英语原文：

THE CAMBRIDGE GUIDE TO ENGLISH USAGE (by Pam Peters, Cambridge University Press 2004)

Neither she nor I is?/am?/are? inclined to go.

The use of is (third person) sounds awkward after I (first person), and am too is less than ideal: though it accords perfectly with I and provides proximity agreement, it makes a disjunction with she. Notional agreement would suggest are, to bundle she and I up together as plural, first/third person, but it’s still less than an elegant solution. Such sentences probably need redesigning, for example: I am not inclined to go and neither is she.

在第一人称 I 之后用第三人称的 is 听起来很别扭，用am也不理想，虽然它和第一人称 I 切合，符合就近原则，但是它和 she 无法和谐。如果采用意义原则，则要求用 are,  把 she 和 I 捆绑在一起作为复数看待，仍然不是优雅的解决方案。这样的句子最可能的是需要重组，例如： I am not inclined to go and neither is she.

世界权威的《夸克英语语法大全》英文原版(Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, Jan Svartvik, 朗文出版集团，1985）p766 里说：

Either my wife or I am going.  Because of the awkwardness of this choice, a speaker may avoid it by using a modal auxiliary which is invariable for person: eg Either my wife or I will be going.

or by postposing the last noun phrase: eg Either my wife is going or I am.

因为这个谓语动词的选择很别扭，说话者可以有两个方法避免这种选择：使用不因为人称而变化的情态助动词，如Either my wife or I will be going. 或者

把主语的后一项延后, 如：Either my wife is going or I am.