Another Rule Bites the Dust

Okay. I accept it. After about three years of struggling with it, I have finally decided to cave in and part with the old, comforting rule

– Ric Walston, May 14, 2002

Well, gone is another old grammatical rule that used to comfort those of us who knew it and who took great "pride" in pointing out the error in the writings of others.

What do I speak of? That good old infinitive and the splitting thereof: "Never Split an Infinitive"

Now, for those who may not know what I am talking about, let me give a brief background on this topic, and then I'll move on to the "new rule."

The infinitive: "to verb"

An infinitive is formed by combining the word "to" with any verb stem. Examples: to write; to jump; to run; to walk; to say; to fly; to fight; to bark; to drive; etc. The combination of the word "to" and any verb stem is an infinitive.

The old standard rule was: "Never split the infinitive."

Example of a split infinitives:

"To really swim fast, wear fins." Here the infinitive "to swim" is split by the word "really."

"To better understand the Bible, take some classes in exegesis." Here the infinitive "to understand" is split by the word "better."

"We are developing a plan to gradually relieve the burden now imposed upon the share holders." Here, the infinitive "to relieve" is split by the word "gradually."

TORUN

One of the reasons why people often split the infinitive is that in English, the infinitive is made up of two separate words.

But, in Greek, for instance, the infinitive is one word. One infinitive in Greek is luein , which means "to loose." So, it might be helpful if you would think of the infinitive as one word. For example, to run might be torun . To write could be thought of as towrite .

When you see the infinitive as one word, it will help you not to split the infinitive. (Notice I didn't say, "It will help you to not split the infinitive.")

Why?
However, why do we have this rule? As you can plainly see, the infinitive is not one word in English as it is in some other languages.

We have actually imported this rule from the Latin language. (We did the same with the old, now defunct rule of never ending a sentence in a preposition—see Never End a Sentence with a Preposition! Oh Really?.) So, why did we import the rule from Latin into our own? Why indeed. We don't speak or write in Latin, and if you do, then you should never split your infinitives when working in that language. But, what does it have to do with English? Not much.

It seems apparent that splitting the infinitive with, for example, the intensifier "really" does not convolute the syntax to an unrecognizable point. In other words, you can understand the phrase, "to really run fast"(split infinitive) and "to run really fast" (not split). The intensifier that splits the infinitive here does not ruin the meaning.

Well, the Oxford Dictionary says
"Oxford Dictionary" has now abandoned its old rule that writers are never to split infinitives. And, when Oxford "speaks," people listen. Of course, some people are not happy with this abandonment. When I first heard about it, I balked, and now a few years later, I am finally warming up to the idea.

One professor of English said, "Hearing split infinitives is like listening to Mozart when the pianist keeps hitting all the wrong notes."

Samuel Pickering (English Prof. at the U of Connecticut--and considered to be the inspiration for the lead role in "The Dead Poets Society") echoing my earlier sentiments, stated, "I do not dine with those who split infinitives."

But, the Oxford American Desk Dictionary now sports this new (liberal) stance on the infinitive saying that the old rule can lead to "awkward, stilted sentences."

A couple of other "heavy hitters" who agree that this rule is dead are Random House and Strunk and White.

Oxford Dictionary is a 20-volume, 138 pound, 21,730 page dictionary, and it is considered by many to be the "final word" on the English language. So,if you split your infinitive and someone gripes at you about it, just say (with the northeastern, clinched-jaw, blue-blood accent), "Well, the Oxford Dictionary says . . ."

In other words, this rule has been imported from Latin into English with no valid reasoning behind its importation.

What You Should Know About the Rule
The most important aspect about this rule, in my estimation, is to know that it exists, and to know that some people think that it is important.

If you know that it exists, and you are writing a paper, article, or whatever for someone (or some group) that you know believes that this rule is a "sacred-cow" of grammar, then you'll be wise to conform to the rule for their sake (not for the sake of good English).

However, if you want to "break" the rule to establish that you are not bound by old, out-of-date rules, then you may wish to be a bit more contemporary in your writing and let the chips fall where they may.

So, although, I am not adamant about this rule (any longer), it often sounds better not to split the infinitive . . . but, it's only a preference and not a real rule.

Perhaps it should be written this way: As long as it does not lead to awkward, stilted sentences, the void splitting infinitives.

I guess it is time to now lift the ban on splitting the infinitives and to really feel free in your writing.

Last point: don't be surprised my dear students if I still red mark your split infinitives for a while longer. Old habits are hard to break.

Free Class:
For those of you who might be interested: I have produced a lecture series on audio with notes. I cover the basics of good writing, grammar, punctuation, and more. I've had people with Master's degrees and PhDs go through these lectures, and some of them told me that they learned more on this subject from my lectures and notes than they had from all of their previous education combined. You can listen to the lectures for free and downlaod the lecture notes as PDFa files (for free) at CES Writing Protocols Lectures.