插入语一般对一句话作一些附加的说明。它是中学英语语法的重点,也是高考的考点。掌握这一语言现象不仅有利于对句子、篇章的理解,而且也有助于提高书面表达的写作水平。
一、常见的插入语有形容词(词组)、副词、不定式、现在分词短语、介词短语、从句以及固定短语。
　　1.常见的形容词(词组)、副词作插入语的有:sure enough(果然); strange; worse still(更糟糕的是);most important(最重要的是); honestly; obviously; however; otherwise; luckily; unfortunately; besides; first; second; especially; surprisingly等。例如:
　Worse still, the lion could even carry off the baby in its mouth.
　We must do the experiment carefully; otherwise you’ll get another result.
　Honestly, I don’t need it at the moment.
　He likes the country, especially in spring.
　　2.常见的不定式有:to tell the truth; to be short(简单地);to begin with(首先); to be sure(自然、当然、果然);to be honest/frank; to make things worse; to make a long story short; to speak of(值得一提的是),to be fair ,to sum up(概括地说) 等。这些插入语表示说话人的态度,在句子中作独立成份。例如:
　　________ the truth, this is all Greek to me.
　　A. Tell　 B. To tell　 C. Telling　　D. Told　　　　　　　　[Key: B]
　　That’s a good idea, to be sure!
　　To make things worse, many of the men have gone off to cities in search of higher pay.
　　3.常见的现在分词短语有:generally speaking; frankly speaking; judging from/by; talking of(谈到); considering(考虑到,因为是);putting it mildly(说得客气一点)等。这些分词用来修饰全句。例如:
　　Judging from appearance, he seems to be a strong man.
　　4.常见的介词短语有:in fact; in addition; in a word; on the other hand; in other words; in one’s opinion; in that case; by the way; of course; as a rule(通常);to one’s surprise; for example; on the contrary(相反);in a way(在某点上、在某种程度上); for one thing; for another (thing)等。例如:
　　In a way, I think we both won in the game.
　　5.常见的从句有:if you don’t mind; if you like; if you please; if necessary; if any; if I may say so; if convenient; as it happens等。例如:
　　You can, ________, come to join us in the game.
　A. if you please　 B. if you possible　C. if you happy　 D. if you necessary　 [Key: A]
　6.常见的固定短语:as a result; that is (to say); what’s more; as above; all in all(总之),等。例如:
　　All in all, they have had a wonderful time today.
二、插入语的位置,可放在句首、句中或句末,一般用逗号或分号隔开。例如:
　　Besides, I enjoy learning about new things from politics to sports and music.
　　He knows three foreign languages, namely, English, Japanese and Spanish.
　　但是有些词或短语可插在句子中,不用逗号隔开。例如:
　　What on earth are you doing here?
三、表示疑问的插入语结构
　　含think, suppose, guess, say, imagine, expect, believe等动词的疑问句,后接含疑问词的宾语从句时,要将疑问词放在句首。例如:
　　Whom do you think I should see first?
　　这一结构可改为:Whom should I see first, do you think?
　　He made another wonderful discovery, ________of great importance to science.
　　A. which I think is 　　　　B. which I think it is
　 C. which I think it　　　　 D. I think is　　　　　　　　　 [Key: A]
　　这里I think是插入语。which引导非限制性定语从句,故选A。
巩固练习:请选出最佳答案
1. It is always difficult being in a foreign country, ______if you don’t speak the language.　 (NMET2000)
A. extremely　 B. naturally 　C. basically　　D. especially
2. ________be sent to work there? (上海2002)
A. Who do you suggest　　　　　 　B. Who do you suggest that should
C. Do you suggest who should　　 　D. Do you suggest whom should
3. Two middle-aged passengers fell into the sea ,________, neither of them could swim.
A. in fact　 B. luckily　 C. unfortunately　　D. naturally
4. Never waste anything, and________, never waste time.
A. after all　　B. at all　 C. in all　　　D. above all
5. His father came home at midnight, and ________, he was drunk.
A. as a result　B. that is to say 　C. what’s more　　 D. sooner or later
6. My sister speaks English＿＿＿＿＿, if not better than, my brother.
A. as well  B. as well as　C. so well D. so well as
7 ＿＿＿＿＿, you have given me a lot of help.
A Tell the truth B. To tell the truth　 C. Telling true D. Telling truth
8. ＿＿＿＿＿ his face, the young man must be over 20.
A. Judged from B. Judged　 C. Judging from D .Judging
9. I don’t　picking up your thing from the store ,____,the walk will do me good .
A. sooner or later　B. still　C. in time　 D. besides
10. What he said,＿＿＿＿＿, has nothing to do with what he did.
A. to my surprise　B .to my surprised　C. to my surprising D. to our surprises

KEY: DACDC　BBCDA

                                            例题讲解
例1 _____the more expensive the camera， the better its quality.

A.General speaking B.Speaking general

C.Generally speaking D.Speaking generally

解析：本题答案为C.generally speaking为分词短语，意思是“一般来说”，在句中用作插入语。
小结：许多分词短语可以用作插入语，这样的分词短语有：strictly speaking（严格地说），generally considering（一般认为）， judging from……（根据……判断）等。
例2 Two middle-aged passengers fell into the sea. ____，neither of them could swim.

A.In fact B.Luckily

C.Unfortunately D.Naturally

解析：本题答案为C.unfortunately为副词，意思是“令人遗憾地，不巧，可惜”，在句中用作插入语。
小结：常用作插入语的副词或副词短语有：indeed（的确），surely（无疑），however（然而），frankly（坦率地说），obviously（显然），naturally（天然地），luckily （happily） for sb.（算某人幸运），fortunately（幸好），strangely（奇怪），briefly（简单地说）等。
例3 Your performance in the driving test didn’t reach the required standard，_____， you failed.

A.in the end B.after all

C.in other words D.at the same time

解析：本题答案为C.in other words为介词短语，意思是“换句话说”，在句中用作插入语。
小结：常用作插入语的介词短语有：in conclusion（总之），in a word（简而言之），in short（简而言之），in general（一般说来），in a sense（在某种意义上），in my view（在我看来），in his opinion（按照他的看法），in fact（事实上），at first（首先）， in addition（此外），of course（当然），to my surprise（使我惊奇的），to her regret（使她遗憾的），for example（例如）等。
例4 It is so nice to hear from her._____，we last met more than thirty years ago.

A.What‘s more B.That is to say

C.In other words D.Believe it or not

解析：本题答案为D.believe it or not为一分句，意思是“信不信由你”，在句中作插入语。
小结：用简短的句子结构作插入语，它们常置于句中或句末。这类简短的句子有：I am sure（我可以肯定地说），I believe（我相信），do you know（你知道吗），you see（你明白），I’m afraid（恐怕），it is said（据说），I suppose（我想），what’s more（而且），what’s worse（更糟糕的是），that is（也就是说），what is important（重要的是）等。
例5 _____ with you，I have no money to spare.

A.To be frank B.What’s more

C.In addition D.However

解析：本题答案为A.to be frank为不定式短语，意思是“坦率地说”，在句中用作插入语。
小结：常用作插入语的不定式短语有：to be sure（无疑地），to sum up（概括地说），to tell the truth（老实说）等。
例6 _____， he should have done such a thing.

A.Speaking general B.Strange to say

C.Luckily D.Of course

解析：本题答案为B.strange to say为形容词短语，意思是“说也奇怪”，在句中用作插入语。
小结：常用作插入语的形容词或其短语有：true（真的），funny（真可笑），needless to say（不用说），most important of all（最为重要），worse still（更糟糕的），even better（更好）等。