...Sort of. I left out the Latin explanation because I thought it would be too complicated, but here it is:
Once upon a time someone said, "Split infinitives are bad because they never occur in Latin!"
There are two problems with this:
1. English isn't Latin. Some scholars appear to be confused about this, and they have gone on to confuse generations of English majors, not to mention everyday English speakers.
2. In Latin, the split infinitive doesn't exist because it can't. There is no separate particle "to" in the Latin infinitive. In English, split infinitives occur because it's possible to split them. This doesn't make split infinitives in English automatically okay, but it does mean the Latin-based argument is irrelevant.
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27/1/09 05:11 (UTC)Once upon a time someone said, "Split infinitives are bad because they never occur in Latin!"
There are two problems with this:
1. English isn't Latin. Some scholars appear to be confused about this, and they have gone on to confuse generations of English majors, not to mention everyday English speakers.
2. In Latin, the split infinitive doesn't exist because it can't. There is no separate particle "to" in the Latin infinitive. In English, split infinitives occur because it's possible to split them. This doesn't make split infinitives in English automatically okay, but it does mean the Latin-based argument is irrelevant.