Avoiding Split Infinitives
Writers who avoid splitting infinitives either place the splitting element elsewhere in the sentence (as noted in the 1834 proscription) or reformulate the sentence, perhaps rephrasing it without an infinitive and thus avoiding the issue. Considering that many English speakers throughout history have not known the construction, or have known it only passively, there can be no situation in which it is a necessary part of natural speech. However, a sentence with a split infinitive such as "to more than double" must be completely rewritten; it is ungrammatical to put the words "more than" anywhere else in the sentence. While split infinitives can be avoided, a writer must be careful not to produce an awkward or ambiguous sentence. Fowler (1926) stressed that, if a sentence is to be rewritten to remove a split infinitive, this must be done without compromising the language:
It is of no avail merely to fling oneself desperately out of temptation; one must so do it that no traces of the struggle remain; that is, sentences must be thoroughly remodelled instead of having a word lifted from its original place & dumped elsewhere:...
In some cases, moving the adverbial creates an ungrammatical sentence or changes the meaning. R.L. Trask uses this example:
-
- She decided to gradually get rid of the teddy bears she had collected.
-
- "Gradually" splits the infinitive "to get". However, if the adverb were moved, where could it go?
-
- She decided gradually to get rid of the teddy bears she had collected.
-
- This might imply that the decision was gradual.
-
- She decided to get rid of the teddy bears she had collected gradually.
-
- This implies that the collecting process was gradual.
-
- She decided to get gradually rid of the teddy bears she had collected.
-
- This sounds awkward, as it splits the phrase "get rid of".
-
- She decided to get rid gradually of the teddy bears she had collected.
-
- This is almost as unwieldy as its immediate predecessor.
The sentence can be rewritten to maintain its meaning, however, by using a noun or a different grammatical aspect of the verb, or by eschewing the informal "get rid":
-
- She decided to get rid of her teddy bear collection gradually.
- She decided she would gradually get rid of the teddy bears she had collected.
- She decided to rid herself gradually of the teddy bears she had collected.
Fowler notes that the option of rewriting is always available but questions whether it is always worth the trouble.
Listen to this article (info/dl)You can download the clip or download a player to play the clip in your browser. This audio file was created from a revision of the "Split infinitive" article dated 2005-03-13, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help) More spoken articles
Read more about this topic: Split Infinitive
Famous quotes containing the words avoiding and/or split:
“The only sure way of avoiding these evils [vanity and boasting] is never to speak of yourself at all. But when, historically, you are obliged to mention yourself, take care not to drop one single word that can directly or indirectly be construed as fishing for applause.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“Some people ... can’t see the country for the money in their pockets. They think their state is the country, or the way they live is the country. And they’re willing to split the country because of it.”
—Dan Totheroh (1895–1976)