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split infinitive

just what is a split infinitive...any examples please?

thanks

Re: split infinitive

The base form of a verb is the infinitive:
to go
to talk
to swim

A split infinitive is when an adverb or adverbial phrase comes between the 'to' and the bare infinitive e.g. 'go'.

He told us to walk quickly down the hill.
compare with the split infinitive:
He told us to quickly walk down the hill.

Argument raged for a century or two about the grammatical correctness of this construction. Modern thinking is that it is quite acceptable.

If it weren't, a lot of people would think grammarians fools, since so many lives wouldn't be the same if scriptwriters hadn't spit the infinitive, and the commander of the Star Trek Enterprise had actually said:

To go boldly where no man has gone before.

Whether to split the infinitive or not is up to the speaker, but why it worked to forcefully in Star Trek was because of assonance ( the repetition of a vowel sound), and how it scans with the split infinitive:

to BOldly GO where NO man… : ta TA ta TA ta TA

Re: split infinitive

Bazza, thanks you are a star...