Split Infinitives Theres an old rule in English that says that infinitives should never be separated--the two parts of an infinitive should always be kept together; however, more modern and less formal American English grammar permits split infinitives when they sound better. Lets look at some examples. These are split infinitives: • to quickly leave • to always want • to easily excel • to not fail a class Notice how the to part of the infinitive is separated from the base form of the verb by another word. In other words, a word or phrase comes between the to and the base form. Now, lets change these examples so that they are not split infinitives: • to leave quickly • to want always • to excel easily • not to fail a class Notice how the to part of the infinitive is now right next to the base form of the verb - the intervening word or phrase has been moved to either before or after the infinitive. In other words, nothing comes between the to and the base form. Now heres an example of when not to split an infinitive: • My mother clearly told me to not play in the attic. Although many native speakers of English would make such an utterance, the construction is frowned upon by most grammarians, perhaps only because the sentence could be corrected so easily. This is an example of a CORRECT use: • My mother clearly told me not to play in the attic. More examples of the correct use of NOT TO SPLIT AN INFINITIVE: • The teacher told the students not to cheat on exams. • I told you not to do that! • She told me not to eat too much fatty food. In a nutshell: 1. Split infinitives are not always wrong; it is acceptable to split an infinitive when it sounds okay to do so. 2. There are some cases in which infinitives should not be split.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 00:04:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015