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| re: Various thoughts and quotes, including a quote from Shaw on split infinitives | |
| Posted by: Michael_Portantiere 01:34 pm EDT 04/03/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Various thoughts and quotes, including a quote from Shaw on split infinitives - pagates 08:32 am EDT 04/03/21 | |
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| I also hope the quote is authentic, and it makes a lot of sense. The rule against split infinitives is not one that I personally subscribe to, but I will say that, to me, if split infinitives are acceptable some of the time "for the sense of the phrase," I don't understand why they aren't acceptable all of the time. That said, I suppose a split infinitive would look and sound clearly wrong if one were to add SEVERAL words in the split -- for example, if instead of "to ever let a woman in my life," Lerner had written "to ever, under any circumstances, let a woman in my life." :-) |
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| re: Various thoughts and quotes, including a quote from Shaw on split infinitives | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 03:51 am EDT 04/05/21 | |
| In reply to: re: Various thoughts and quotes, including a quote from Shaw on split infinitives - Michael_Portantiere 01:34 pm EDT 04/03/21 | |
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| Some experts who think the prohibition is silly and invalid might say something like this: There is no prohibition on using split infinitives but neither is it especially desirable. Sometimes splitting infinitives can lead to a sentence that lacks clarity or is clumsy (or both). Sometimes not splitting infinitives can lead to a sentence that lacks clarity or is clumsy (or both). There is always the option of recasting but sometimes that leads to something verbose and unnecessarily complicated. If the best solution is to split, then split, but usually it is not the best option. I just basically summarized what Fowler writes in his last section discussing split infinitives. At the link you can find the whole entry on split infinitives. There are those who say something like this: Avoid splitting infinitives because if you split there will be people who think you’re ignorant or careless. That seems a bit silly, but if, say, you’re writing a cover letter for a job or submitting an article to someone who doesn’t already know your writing, it’s probably good advice. I admit to not being sure why even some grammar experts who say that it is fine to split infinitives if that will give you the best sentence also say that as a general rule it is also best to avoid splitting. I think the reason may be because most of the time not splitting gives you a better sentence but I’m not 100-percent sure that’s the reason. I certainly understand the reasoning that you should avoid it because people will think you’re ignorant or careless. |
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| Link | Fowler on split infinitives |
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