Split infinitives happen when you put an adverb between to and a verb, for example:. She used to secretly admire him. You have to really watch him. Some people believe that split infinitives are grammatically incorrect and should be avoided at all costs.
Are split infinitives grammatically incorrect, or are they valid constructs? Ask Question. Asked 11 years, 2 months ago. Active 1 year, 10 months ago. Viewed 9k times. Mark's generosity in this crisis seems to more than make up for his earlier stinginess. Should those sentences always be avoided, or are there cases where they are valid?
Improve this question. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. I particularly love this line from Language Log: "People who reduce a complex and rather interesting subject to a narrow, mechanical, empirically uninformed game of grammar Gotcha.
From what I can recall this was a "rule" of Latin - not English. I agree with nohat on this. Tim I think the problem is that people take the complementizer to to be part of the infinitive itself. In this example, I can't think of a way to say the same without losing the elegance of the phrase. Show 2 more comments. Should those sentences always avoided, or are there cases where they are valid?
A funny quote from Fowler, via the Guardian style guide : "The English-speaking world may be divided into 1 those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; 2 those who do not know, but care very much; 3 those who know and condemn; 4 those who know and distinguish.
Lawrence I don't think it conveys the right impression when you say "will not actually notice that there is something ungrammatical about" -- it would seem to imply that you believe that there is something wrong with it. I was half expecting you to go on to rail about how horrible split infinitives are and how they destroy the purity of the language after reading to that point.
I think a better way to put it would be "will not see anything ungrammatical in" , which does not imply that there is anything ungrammatical at all. Jay Jay Cell Mentor—an online resource from Cell Press and Cell Signaling Technology—empowers early-career researchers with career insights, publishing advice, and techniques on experimental processes and procedures.
Search ». Here's an example in which splitting the infinitive seems preferable: I wanted to finally get out of the habit of speaking on her behalf. Here, "finally" incorrectly modifies "wanted. Here, it is ambiguous whether "finally" goes with "wanted" or "to get. Here, "finally" incorrectly applies to "speaking. These sentences sound awkward. Likewise, in my opinion, the following sentences also contain preferable split infinitives: Article submissions were expected to more than triple in To pointlessly split infinitives is inadvisable.
Thus, one might argue that the last example would be best rewritten as follows: To split infinitives is pointlessly inadvisable. About Cell Mentor. To boldly go for it: why the split infinitive is no longer a mistake. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo. Name: The split infinitive. Age: years. I see what they mean.
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