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What is a Split Infinitive?
A split infinitive is a grammatical construction in the English
language where a word or phrase, usually an adverb or adverbial
phrase, occurs between the marker to and the bare infinitive
(uninflected) form of the verb. The construction is particularly
notable because of some controversy as to whether
it is “grammatically correct.”
One famous example is from the television series Star Trek:
“to boldly go where no man has gone before.” Here,
the presence of the adverb boldly between the parts of the infinitive, to and
go, creates a so-called split infinitive. The construction can
often be avoided by placing the intervening words
after the verb or before the to marker: “to go boldly where no
man has gone before” or “boldly to go where no man has gone
before.” However,
these two phrases do not have identical meanings — the former
attaches the boldness to the manner of going, while
the latter attaches the boldness to the complete
act of going “where
no man has gone before.”
Descriptively speaking, split infinitives are common in most
varieties of English. However, their status as part of the standard
language is controversial. In the 19th century, some grammatical
authorities sought to introduce a prescriptive rule that split
infinitives should not be used in English. Most authorities from
the last 100 years, however, agree that this rule was misguided,
and indeed that the split infinitive construction can sometimes
reduce ambiguity.
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