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A split infinitive is a grammatical construction specific to English in which an adverb or adverbial phrase separates the "to" and "infinitive" constituents of what was traditionally called the "full infinitive", but is more commonly known in modern linguistics as the to-infinitive (e.g., to go).
In 1995, linguist David Crystal referred to this kind of trope as a "catch structure", citing as an example the phrase "to boldly split infinitives that no man had split before", as originally used in Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio series (1978). [43]
Infinitive phrases often have an implied grammatical subject making them effectively clauses rather than phrases. Such infinitive clauses or infinitival clauses, are one of several kinds of non-finite clause. They can play various grammatical roles like a constituent of a larger clause or sentence; for example it may form a noun phrase or ...
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Some English grammar rules were adopted from Latin, for example John Dryden is thought to have created the rule no sentences can end in a preposition because Latin cannot end sentences in prepositions. The rule of no split infinitives was adopted from Latin because Latin has no split infinitives. [41] [42] [43]
1 why it is generally not acceptable to 'split' an infinitive with 'not' 2 falsity. 3 Problems. 4 comments. 4 Prescription vs. description. 5 biased "non split" POV ...
cleave [meaning to split] – cleft/clove/cleaved – cleft/cloven/cleaved: Strong, class 2: Or weak with vowel shortening; regular when meaning "adhere" cling – clung – clung: Strong, class 3: clothe – clad/clothed – clad/clothed overclothe – overclad/overclothed – overclad/overclothed unclothe – unclad/unclothed – unclad/unclothed
Split infinitives are still frowned upon in common English usage. Almost all of the examples cited in this article would actually sound better, in common usage terms, without the infinitives being split. As the article shows, split infinitives originated in Britain, and the first known objection to them was in America.