To boldly go where no English teacher has gone before — splitting infinitives
Oct 31st, 2008 | By Jennifer Roach | Category: GrammarAn infinitive begins with “to,” followed by a verb or verb phrase, such as “to walk,” “to go,” or “to explode.” A split infinitive occurs when an adjective is inserted between “to” and the verb. The most popular example is the phrase “to boldly go,” which English teachers have harped on since it first made its appearance in Star Trek.
Myth:
One should never split an infinitive.
Truth:
Splitting an infinitive is acceptable, as long as:
- it preserves the integrity of the sentence,
- it does not change the meaning of the sentence, and
- it does not violate a rule in the style guide you are following.
Where the rule came from
In the early 1800’s, language elitists began working to develop complicated new rules for English. Initially, they claimed to be doing so for the preservation of the language; in truth, they were setting rules in order to distinguish between high-class and low-class speakers. During this time, they worked to make English as close as possible to Latin. In Latin, an infinitive is one word; there is no “to.” Therefore, it is impossible to split the one-word infinitive. The linguists created the rule that our infinitives should not be split, either. Ever since, language teachers have been preaching it as the rule. There are, however, occasions where it is not only acceptable, but preferable, to split the infinitive.
Breaking up is hard to do
Before you get out your pitchforks and torches, take a look at the following example:
The principal will hold a seminar for all seniors in order to better prepare them for college applications.
Obviously, “to better prepare” is the split infinitive. Your natural instinct would probably be to red-pen that and move on. Think about how it would be changed, however. Our options would either be:
“in order better to prepare them”
or
“in order to prepare better them”
Neither make any sense. The next closest would be:
“in order to prepare them better”
However, this situation does not have the same ease and flow of natural spoken language as the original.
In this case, if you the editor forced the writer to unsplit his infinitive, he would be have to strike the “better” altogether, which changes the meaning of the sentence. We would assume that the principal and the school have already tried to prepare the seniors; now they want to do a better job. Leaving “to prepare” alone would give us a different sentence.
Never say never
Earlier, I said that the use of “never” in the splitting infinitives rule is not true. However, there is one circumstance in which you would never break the rule: if your style guide says so. Be sure to check before you get all fancy with those adverbs.
Final thoughts
Sometimes, it is incorrect to split an infinitive. Sometimes, however, it’s the best option. Choose what’s best for your style and voice. If the Enterprise had not dared “to boldly go,” would that phrase have held the same emphasis and resonance? If they just dared to go? Boring. Switch channels.
I think Paula LaRocque said it best in her book The Book on Writing:
We should lay the split infinitive superstition to rest. Avoid splitting it when it gets in the way of grace and precision and split away when it preserves grace and precision.
If you have any other language myths you’d like us to debunk, leave a comment.
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This article was written by Jennifer Roach http://jennifermroach.com Jennifer is a fiction writer, blogger, and freelance editor/proofreader. You can follow her on Twitter @jennifermroach or on MySpace . To see more posts click here |
[...] We’ve already addressed this one more in depth. There’s nothing wrong with splitting infinitives. It’s a silly old rule made up by silly old men to make the lower class look, well, silly. Splitting an infinitive is acceptable, as long as: [...]