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Splitting infinitives is done so frequently today that it sounds more natural. Consider: "I was hoping to completely finish the project before the teacher calle

Splitting infinitives is done so frequently today that it sounds more natural. Consider: "I was hoping to completely finish the project before the teacher called on me"

ColinWright 15y ago
That sounds awful to me. Much better: I was hoping to finish the project completely before the teacher called on me. I agree that sometimes splitting infinitives sound better, but it happens less often than most people think, and to my ear, this is certainly not one of the cases.
- angrycoder 15y ago
  I was hoping to finish the project before the teacher called on me. the completely doesn't even need to be there
tspiteri 15y ago
From the Oxford A–Z of Grammar and Punctuation by John Seely: split infinitive The infinitive is the form of the verb made by adding to to its stem: to go Some traditionalists say that you should never place anything between the to and the stem. They argue that since the infinitive is a part of the verb it should never be split. So it is wrong to say to boldly go. You should instead say to go boldly or boldly to go. There is no grammatical justification for this so-called 'rule', and people have been splitting infinitives for centuries. Indeed sometimes it is impossible to convey your meaning unless you do split an infinitive. For example: Everyone else thought they were too young to really cope with adult responsibilities. If you move really to another position you change the meaning of the sentence: Everyone else thought they were too young really to cope with adult responsibilities. Everyone else thought they were too young to cope really with adult responsibilities. (Amazon link to book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199564671/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=trevor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0199564671 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199564671/ref=as_li_qf_sp_... )
- ColinWright 15y ago
  In this example, I personally prefer "to cope fully" and thereby avoid the argument anyway. But as I say elsewhere, I agree that sometimes splitting the infinitive is necessary to shade the meaning correctly.
- ahpeeyem 15y ago
  "Everyone else thought they were really too young to cope with adult responsibilities" If you word it like this, the emphasis of 'really' is moved to 'too young' but the sentence's meaning is the same, right?
  - tspiteri 15y ago
    But then 'really' modifies 'were too young', not 'to cope'.
tomjen3 15y ago
The rule against split infinitives is a legacy from people who wished that English should have been more like Latin. You never split an infinitive in Latin because the to part is part of the word.
RyanMcGreal 15y ago
I'm old-fashioned this way, but split infinitives are like nails on chalk to me. I try to avoid using adverbs, but if an adverb is necessary, I try to place it after the verb it is modifying, not before. Another recent habit is the infinitive split with a negative: "I asked him to not do that any more," rather than: "I asked him not to do that any more." An unsplit negative can sometimes lead readers down a garden path, but that usually indicates a need to rethink the sentence, for example to reframe it without a negative: "I asked him to stop doing that."

Splitting infinitives is done so frequently today that it sounds more natural. Consider: "I was hoping to completely finish the project before the teacher called on me"

ColinWright 15y ago

That sounds awful to me. Much better: I was hoping to finish the project completely before the teacher called on me. I agree that sometimes splitting infinitives sound better, but it happens less often than most people think, and to my ear, this is certainly not one of the cases.

angrycoder 15y ago
I was hoping to finish the project before the teacher called on me. the completely doesn't even need to be there

tspiteri 15y ago

From the Oxford A–Z of Grammar and Punctuation by John Seely: split infinitive The infinitive is the form of the verb made by adding to to its stem: to go Some traditionalists say that you should never place anything between the to and the stem. They argue that since the infinitive is a part of the verb it should never be split. So it is wrong to say to boldly go. You should instead say to go boldly or boldly to go. There is no grammatical justification for this so-called 'rule', and people have been splitting infinitives for centuries. Indeed sometimes it is impossible to convey your meaning unless you do split an infinitive. For example: Everyone else thought they were too young to really cope with adult responsibilities. If you move really to another position you change the meaning of the sentence: Everyone else thought they were too young really to cope with adult responsibilities. Everyone else thought they were too young to cope really with adult responsibilities. (Amazon link to book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199564671/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=trevor-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0199564671 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199564671/ref=as_li_qf_sp_... )

ColinWright 15y ago
In this example, I personally prefer "to cope fully" and thereby avoid the argument anyway. But as I say elsewhere, I agree that sometimes splitting the infinitive is necessary to shade the meaning correctly.
ahpeeyem 15y ago
"Everyone else thought they were really too young to cope with adult responsibilities" If you word it like this, the emphasis of 'really' is moved to 'too young' but the sentence's meaning is the same, right?
- tspiteri 15y ago
  But then 'really' modifies 'were too young', not 'to cope'.

tomjen3 15y ago

The rule against split infinitives is a legacy from people who wished that English should have been more like Latin. You never split an infinitive in Latin because the to part is part of the word.

RyanMcGreal 15y ago

I'm old-fashioned this way, but split infinitives are like nails on chalk to me. I try to avoid using adverbs, but if an adverb is necessary, I try to place it after the verb it is modifying, not before. Another recent habit is the infinitive split with a negative: "I asked him to not do that any more," rather than: "I asked him not to do that any more." An unsplit negative can sometimes lead readers down a garden path, but that usually indicates a need to rethink the sentence, for example to reframe it without a negative: "I asked him to stop doing that."