:: : : : : : Oh, it is easy to casually split an infinitive in English; perhaps if we were writing Latin there would be more to wonder at : P You create rules, and following the rules can analyse the data.
12.
:: " In the 19th century, some grammatical authorities sought to introduce a prescriptive rule from Latin that split infinitives should not be used in English . " Um . . . how " can " you split an infinitive in a Latinate language?
13.
I will be the first to admit that I regularly misuse Mr . Spell Check in the cavalier manner of somebody who hasn't touched a typewriter with serious intent since 1989 . And yes, I have been known to willfully split an infinitive with a resounding whack.
14.
In " The Physics of Star Trek ", Lawrence M . Krauss begins a list of " Star Trek's " ten worst errors by quoting one of his colleagues who considers that their greatest mistake is " to split an infinitive every damn time ".
15.
The kind of person who wouldn't put a predicate pronoun in the objective case ( " it's me " ) if his life depended on it, who wouldn't split an infinitive or end a sentence with a preposition if you put a gun to her head.
16.
The earliest prohibition of the usage was in 1762, when Robert Lowth argued that because a split infinitive was not permissible in Latin, it should not be permissible in English . ( It is worth noting that it is impossible to split an infinitive in Latin, since the Latin infinitive is a single word .)
17.
By the way, would you convey my compliments to the purist who reads your proofs and tell him or her that I write in a sort of broken-down patois which is something like the way a Swiss-waiter talks, and that when I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will remain split, and when I interrupt the velvety smoothness of my more or less literate syntax with a few sudden words of barroom vernacular, this is done with the eyes wide open and the mind relaxed and attentive.
18.
Because the prohibition has become so widely known, the " Columbia Guide " recommends that writers " follow the conservative path [ of avoiding split infinitives when they are not necessary ], especially when you're uncertain of your readers'expectations and sensitivities in this matter . " R . W . Burchfield's revision of Fowler's " Modern English Usage " goes farther ( quoting Burchfield's own 1981 book " The Spoken Word " ) : " Avoid splitting infinitives whenever possible, but do not suffer undue remorse if a split infinitive is unavoidable for the completion of a sentence already begun . " Still more strongly, the style guide of " The Economist " says, " Happy the man who has never been told that it is wrong to split an infinitive : the ban is pointless.
