Anglican bishop robert lowth popularized the prohibition against ending a sentence with a preposition in his 1762 book, a short introduction to english grammar. A split infinitive is a structure in which an adverb is put between to and the. Although it is sometimes reported that a prohibition on split infinitives goes back to renaissance times, and frequently the 18th century scholar robert lowth is cited as the originator of the prescriptive rule, such a rule is not to be found in lowth s writing, and is not known to appear in any text before the 19th century. Pdf the split infinitive in modern english maria semerjyan. Splitting an infinitive and starting a sentence with so or like are all habits that any selfrespecting grammar pedant would abhor.
Please offer a few juicy examples of correct and incorrect text. In 1795 his book english grammar help set lowth s rules in stone, particularly the rules regarding the double negative and ending a sentence with a preposition. Most of what you think you know about grammar is wrong. For example, a split infinitive occurs in the opening sequence of the star trek television series.
Erin servais is the founder of dot and dash, llc, an authorservices company focusing on women writers and offering a range of editing, coaching, and social media packages. The beachwood reporter the grammar police belong in the. An infinitive is the base form of a verb that exists before it is conjugated. Lowth and other grammarians wanted to codify the english language. It is worth noting that it is impossible to split an infinitive in latin, since the latin infinitive is a single word. The first major grammarian to oppose the use of split infinitives was henry alford in his usage manual called the queens english 1864. Using archival research, the article traces the history of the proscription and offers historical examples of its use.
To suddenly go and to quickly read are examples of split infinitives because the adverbs suddenly and quickly split or break up the infinitives to go. The split infinitives of this period, however, are different from those of contemporary american english in that a pronoun, and not an adverb, was used to split the infinitives. While often attributed to lowth, this particular rule doesnt gain prominence until nearly 41 years later, in 1803 when john comly, in his english grammar made easy to the teacher and pupil, notes. A split infinitive is an englishlanguage grammatical construction in which a word or phrase, usually an adverb or adverbial phrase, comes between the marker to and the bare infinitive uninflected form of a verb. He is sometimes blamed for the completely baseless prohibition of the split infinitivebut he said. Its no longer considered a crime to split an infinitive or end a sentence with a preposition, for example, but the specters of wornout rules have a way of coming back to haunt us. This was the age of henry alford insisting that it is wrong to ever split an infinitive, and of robert lowth stating that a preposition is a bad thing to end a sentence on. Tiekenboon van ostade presents evidence that later editions of lowth s grammar were.
Just this month the new york times liberal in editorial politics, conservative in writing style cited the new oxford dictionary of modern american usage that it is ok to split infinitives. Despite its profusion of charts, tables and graphs, the book is repetitive and unconvincingat best, the material should have yielded two substantial articles, not 340 pages of mostly vague. He also, split his infinitives a couple of times in a few paragraphs. The to infinitive arose in middle english and was occasiona. Lowth has often been held responsible for all later prescriptive rules, including the split infinitive. In the english language, a split infinitive or cleft infinitive is a grammatical construction in which. Split infinitives are common in english, and have been since before the time of william shakespeare. He certainly had nothing to say about the split infinitive. Want to improve your english in five minutes a day. Despite its profusion of charts, tables and graphs, the book is repetitive and unconvincingat best, the material.
An infinitive consists of the word to and the simple form of a verb e. Jul 19, 2016 an infinitive, or bare infinitive is a simple form of a verb. Oct 23, 2019 in 1762, bishop robert lowth did a grave disservice to the english language when he published his short introduction to english grammar. You can use this short test to see how well you understand this linguistic. Rather than basing his grammatical rules in the usage of the best educated speakers and writers of english, he arbitrarily chose. Controversy rages over whether you may split an infinitive by putting other words between the to and the infinitive verb. The split infinitive construction is routinely dated to the 14th century. Thomas hardy, theodore roosevelt and rudyard kipling all split infinitives.
So lets take a look at three rules and see who told the first lie. The most famous split infinitive comes at the beginning of every episode of star trek, when the crews continuing mission is announced as. The most influential grammarian of his day was robert. In 1924, fowler cowrote an entire book on the split infinitive. It is not possible for lowth because it is not possible in latin to split an infinitive. To answer this question, the bishops grammar traces lowth s social networks through a study of his personal and professional correspondence, the presentation copies of his books, the books mentioned in his will, and editions of the grammar itself. Do split infinitives to avoid awkward wording, to preserve a natural rhythm, and especially to achieve the intended emphasis and meaning. Aug 08, 2014 if the desire to avoid split infinitives pulls this experienced editor into making the sentence less active, more complex, and more opaque, its a fair bet that it will often do the same to.
The idea that you cant came from bishop robert lowth, who wrote the first grammar book. When i split an infinitive, god damn it, i split it so it will remain. Hamlets to be or not to be speech might be the most famous use of infinitives in english literature. Johnson the original sins of grammarians still plague. Johnson the ban on split infinitives is an idea whose. If the split infinitive coveys your intended thought and sounds idiomatic, leave it. In the english language, a split infinitive or cleft infinitive is a grammatical co. In 1864, alford published a very popular grammar book, a plea for the queens english, in which he declared that to was part of the infinitive and that the parts were inseparable. Otherwise, however, the bishops grammar is less than the sum of its parts. But a new study has found that conventions which prohibit such practises are so widely flouted, they have effectively become part of modern spoken english. Is it acceptable to occasionally split an infinitive. The split infinitive in electronic corpora 101 we allow the students to freely split the infinitive or should we act strongly to ban its use.
May 14, 2019 the problem with split infinitives is that people think theres a problem with split infinitives. It was never used until the 19th century, when fanny burney wrote her whole lot of books where she always split her infinitives. Lowths importance to grammar can be compared to samuel johnson s to lexicography. As in latin, splitting an infinitive was impossible. Split infinitive definition and meaning collins english. The same people who thunder against adverbs plunked down in the middle of infinitives remain strangely silent about other split expressions. In the interest of laying a few to rest, lets dedicate to each a tombstone, complete with burial service. Winston churchill, who wrote far more readable books than lowth, ridiculed the whole thing with the. When did it become acceptable to split the infinitive, as.
For more about these and other language myths, check out our books. Hearing split infinitives is like listening to mozart when the pianist keeps hitting all the wrong notes. Hello grammar goddesses, after looking through all my style guides including cmos, of course, i now know not to split my infinitives but have yet to find some examples of such. Taking advantage of the linguistically conscious middle classes who cared enough to buy their books, they createdinventedmade up new rules, on a whim. Jun 18, 2017 this has also been the case, not just in modern usage, but throughout most of the history of the english language since those split infinitives first popped up around the th century. I have never seen any reference to it from before the 19th century, so if you mean that discussion of the split infinitive had not been invented in lowth s time this is true. The split infinitve origins the first documented use of split infinitives goes back to the th century. When a participle, such as to, appears before an infinitive, it is then referred to as a full infinitive. Usually, an adverb or an adverbial phrase comes between them. Introduction to linguistics 1 1 preliminaries linguistics is the science that studies language. In the 18th century, in england, bishop robert lowth, who was a poetry professor at oxford, made up many of the normative grammar rules for standard written english based on classical latin grammar.
The socalled rule against split infinitives is simply not a rule. The socalled split infinitive many copy editors around the world, particularly in the usa, still appear to believe that the split infinitive is some kind of grammatical sin despite what nearly all the quality handbooks of grammar and style actually say, so it may be useful to provide some additional commentary here. The most influential grammarian of his day was robert lowth, whose 1762 short introduction to english grammar. The 18th century saw an explosion in the publication of books about english grammar. From split infinitives to dangling participles, an essential guide to understanding grammar adams 101 sears, kathleen on. In 1762, bishop robert lowth did a grave disservice to the english language when he published his short introduction to english grammar.
According to lowth, using a preposition at the end of a sentence was now wrong. Its no longer considered a crime to split an infinitive or end a sentence with a. Aug 15, 2017 the only rationale for condemning the split infinitive construction is based on a false analogy with latin. So many people believe the myth including some editors that splitting an infinitive in your query letter or pitch may mar the first impression youre making, even though youre not actually breaking any rules. Infinitives in old english were single words without to or anything like it.
She boasted of successfully completing the course split prepositional phrase and it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all infinitive split by helping verb. But the usage suddenly fell down during the 18th century, when the english grammarians including robert lowth discouraged the use of split infinitives. Aug 12, 20 yet, in the passage where he gave this advice he said that it was preferable to split an infinitive rather than write convoluted, ugly language. Robert lowth, lindley murray, and the other writers of popular books of grammar in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and the. Grammar lovers split over infinitives books the guardian.
Today, according to the american heritage book of english usage, people split infinitives all the time without giving it a thought. Split infinitives are common grammatical mistakes that can make a sentence confusing to a reader. But if it sounds natural, you can happily split the infinitive. Dont fret, we cant all have the extensive vocabulary of robert burchfield. Imho, the definition more cogently reflects modern lexical usage. The earliest prohibition of the usage was in 1762, when robert lowth argued that because a split infinitive was not permissible in latin, it should not be permissible in english. Rather than basing his grammatical rules in the usage of the besteducated speakers and writers of english, he arbitrarily chose to base them on the latin grammatical system. Split infinitive project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks.
To fix a split infinitive, rearrange the sentence so that no words come between the two parts of the infinitive. Theres no logical reason for the rule, and most modern usage guides say its fine to split one in the interest of clarity. English infinitives are two words, such as to split, and there is little logic to keeping them fused together, except that it cannot be done in latin and bishop lowth decided, quite on his own, that english should emulate latin, and the world followed suit. The socalled split infinitive the university of edinburgh. To split an infinitive is to put a word or words between to and the verb itself. Dec 30, 2019 the martian is the first time hes truly split his atom its a talky, rollicking, scifi crowdpleaser and a galactic, spiritual, selfserious space opera. Grammarians will often tell you not to split infinitives, but you see writers do. Following the replacement of the old english inflectional ending ian by. The image of lowth as a stern bishop with strict ideas about the use of the english language and its grammar may, however, not be welldeserved. Sep 21, 20 robert lowth was the first bestselling english grammarian.
The thinking is that because the latin infinitive is a single word, the equivalent english construction should be treated as if it were a single unit. May 06, 2016 the 18th century saw an explosion in the publication of books about english grammar. A split infinitive occurs when another word is placed between to and the verb in an infinitive. One of the great misconceptions about english is that it is wrong to split an infinitive that is, to put a word or words between to and. If the split infinitive sounds awkward or muddies your thought, rewrite the sentence. Meaning, pronunciation, translations and examples log in dictionary. For a long time, split infinitives like to boldly go were considered impropereven though some usage experts questioned whether the infinitive was being split at all.
In this exercise you will be given some sentences containing split infinitives. As their motto proves, the crew of the uss enterprise split their infinitives along with their atoms. As victoria says, lowth wrote the advice not a rule because he. For what it is worth, robert lowth, the author of the first pedagogical. He also warned us not to suffer undue remorse if a split infinitive is unavoidable for the natural and unambiguous completion of a sentence already begun. Lowth decried preposition stranding and the double negative. The kind of person who wouldnt put a predicate pronoun in the objective case its me if his life depended on it, who wouldnt split an infinitive or end a sentence with a preposition if you. Nobody sort of took her line on it, and it has been absolutely regarded as unacceptable ever since. The thing is, they can actually be useful in avoiding semantic confusion. Split infinitives have, traditionally, been regarded by some commentators as anathema, something to be avoided at all costs. I have taught 140 college classes in the areas of linguistic, english, and vocabulary, so i know a bit about this subject. The grammar police belong in the 18th century lets not.
As a rule a split infinitive occurs in english when an adverb or adverbial phrase is. This was not an understanding shared by the most rev. World heritage encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. This lesson will explain what an infinitive is, why you shouldnt split it, and how to revise when. This quiz and worksheet include questions on examples and functions of split infinitives. Thank goodness that shakespeare and not lowth have the greater influence. In 1762, the bishop of london robert lowth opposed split infinitives.
Johnson the original sins of grammarians still plague the. The most famous example is star treks to boldly go where no one has gone before. In the english language, a split infinitive or cleft infinitive is a grammatical construction in which a word or phrase comes between the to and the bare infinitive of the to form of the infinitive verb. Examples include to write, to go, to talk, to sit, and to understand. The cons of choosing to split infinitives annoying some editors. The split infinitive was not even used in 1485, shakespeare never used it. Remember that a split infinitive occurs when an adverb or adverbial phrase is placed between to and the verb. Lowth was professor of poetry at the university of oxford 174151 and bishop of oxford 176677 and london 177787. It is worth noting that it is impossible to split an infinitive. The now obscure but once feted contribution of robert lowth 171087 is a case in point.
The split infinitive in electronic corpora concordia university. From this, you could say that the rule is that if it sounds awkward, dont split. The real question is when did it become unacceptable. Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily. A split infinitive occurs when theres an adverb between two parts of an infinitive. Examples include write, go, talk, sit, and understand. Generally, english grammar books, which are aimed at students, will advise against the. Split infinitives the chicago manual of style online. The primary basis of the book is an unpublished collection of lowth s correspondence.
Infinitives are formed when a verb is preceded by the word to, as in to run or to ask. The idea that you shouldnt put an adverb in the middle of an infinitive was mentioned earlier but was most prominently introduced by henry alford, the dean of canterbury, in his 1864 book the queens english. You will need to copy and paste them into the answer box and then change them so that the infinitive is no longer split. The study of lowths letters prompts an instructive discussion of lowths register shifting. Top 10 errors in english that arent errors listverse. So, its okay to split infinitives if it makes your message clearer or if it sounds more natural. The split infinitive the infinitive is the form of the verb that has the marker to in front of it, as in to walk, to run, and to go. The most influential grammarian of his day was robert lowth, whose 1762 short introduction to english grammar went through over 40 editions before 1800. He thought that a adam and eve spoke hebrew, that b latin came from hebrew, and that c english came from l.
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