Split infinitives

[Paphnutius]

[quote name='Raphael' date='Nov 29 2005, 09:13 PM']Well, you are quite a boor.
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That is ok because you were always one to quickly judge another. :

[Thy Geekdom Come]

[quote name='Paphnutius' date='Nov 29 2005, 10:41 PM']That is ok because you were always one to quickly judge another.  :
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You were always an arrogant Texan! I knew it from the first moment I saw you!









I do hope that I've improved on the account of passing judgment.

[homeschoolmom]

Can't you learn to just play right, Raphael??

[homeschoolmom]

I went to quickly search for this thread... and I succeeded!

[MithLuin]

I think it is perfectly acceptable to go ahead and split your infinitives...if...there is a reason for it. To just randomly split them for no good reason doesn't seem fair.

But "To boldly go where no man has gone before" sounds better and makes more sense than "To go boldly where no man has gone before." So in cases like that, it's okay

It's like the rule not to end a sentence with a preposition. While good in theory...it can result in some convoluted sentence structure if you follow it slavishly. When someone corrected Churchill on this, he famously complained, "This is the kind of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put."

Edited June 6, 2009 by MithLuin

[mcts]

[quote name='Sojourner' post='803816' date='Nov 29 2005, 11:15 AM']Oh, sorry ... I didn't see your post first.

Which Holy Spirit did you go to? The one at Geist, or the one on East 10th? If it's the one at Geist, that's a different diocese.[/quote]


the one in geist is in my diocese. as soon as i make the decision to boldly make the trip there, i will tell you how they are. i wouldn't doubt it if they used glass chalices too.

[Vincent Vega]

I want to quickly learn about grammar! This is the thread to learn it at!

[VeniteAdoremus]

So please explain to the ESL person...

what's the [i]problem[/i]? Is it just bad style or is it actually incorrect?

[homeschoolmom]

You ought to seriously read this wikipedia article:

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitive"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitive[/url]

[Nihil Obstat]

Is it a bad thing that none of my teachers have ever decided to decisively explain this to us in twelve years of school? Actually not at all. I just said decisively so that I could split the infinitive.

[MithLuin]

You have to remember that languages grow and that there is not one person who is 'in charge' of what is grammatically correct or not. The consensus and general usage can change certain rules. So, splitting infinitives is viewed as grammatically incorrect by some (but not all) English speakers.

The intentional splitting of infinitives in this thread shows how to not use them. But there are cases where splitting the infinitive would be more appropriate/accurate than not doing so.

One 'rule' of grammar is that if something you like is not considered to be correct...use it, and see if it catches on!

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' post='1884943' date='Jun 6 2009, 08:16 PM']You ought to seriously read this wikipedia article:

[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitive"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitive[/url][/quote]

I'd like to exuberantly thank you.

I think I understand why I saw nothing wrong with split infinitives - it makes the syntax seem more Dutch, so it doesn't register as weird to me.

[the lords sheep]

I have far too many things to do than to blatantly waste my time reading everything that you all have posted here.

This thread has caused me to loudly laugh... or possibly only to conservatively chuckle... It's impossible for you to certainly know which...

[Resurrexi]

If I were to have carelessly split an infinitive on an English paper last year, my teacher would have decided to rudely stamp my paper with "AARGH!".

[homeschoolmom]

I bumped this to hopefully lighten the mood and to possibly bring a smile to the faces of my phellow phatmassers.

[Guest KevinSymonds]

Too much, too many split infinitives in the [i]Twilight[/i] novels. Apparently, to just do good editing was beyond the editor's capability and it about drove me crazy.

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='KevinSymonds' post='1885061' date='Jun 7 2009, 02:32 AM']Too much, too many split infinitives in the [i]Twilight[/i] novels. Apparently, to just do good editing was beyond the editor's capability and it about drove me crazy.[/quote]

Aaah, so it wasn't the translation that was bad! Good to finally know

[Resurrexi]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1885426' date='Jun 7 2009, 03:15 AM']Aaah, so it wasn't the translation that was bad! Good to finally know [/quote]

I take it you decided to rather read the Dutch translation than the English original?

By the way, is English or Dutch your native tongue? Your English is very good.

Edited June 7, 2009 by Resurrexi

[VeniteAdoremus]

[quote name='Resurrexi' post='1885446' date='Jun 7 2009, 11:43 AM']I take it you decided to rather read the Dutch translation than the English original?

By the way, is English or Dutch your native tongue? Your English is very good. [/quote]

Yes I ran into a Dutch version. It was discounted, so it was almost worth every cent

And thanks for the compliment I was raised in Dutch, but we have quite a bit of exposure to English since we use subtitles instead of dubbing for visual media. So that helps.

My spoken English is much worse than my composed, spell-checked forum English, by the way

[the lords sheep]

[quote name='VeniteAdoremus' post='1885479' date='Jun 7 2009, 02:04 PM']Yes I ran into a Dutch version. It was discounted, so it was almost worth every cent

And thanks for the compliment I was raised in Dutch, but we have quite a bit of exposure to English since we use subtitles instead of dubbing for visual media. So that helps.

My spoken English is much worse than my composed, spell-checked forum English, by the way [/quote]

And yet it is infinitely better than my composed, spell-checked Dutch.... which doesn't exactly exist...