If you think it’s wrong to f***ing-well split infinitives, listen up. You’ve been deceived by an ignorant pedant, who was somehow given the role of ‘teacher,’ even though he knew less than a dormouse about good writing.
I could go to great lengths on this subject, but the lowdown is this: the split infinitive ‘rule’ has never existed in English. What’s more, it’s never even been considered bad style or bad grammar, except by those fed bad information which they’ve never found the time to question.
The ‘rule’ comes from Latin, where it’s impossible to split an infinitive. (The infinitive form of a latin verb is one word, with a suitable ending. ‘Amare,’ for example, means ‘to love.’ It’s actually a present active infinitive, but this is not really intended as a post about Latin grammar.)
Many of the best writers in history have gleefully split infinitives, and railed against those who stick to the non-existent ‘rule.’ Wikipedia points out:
George Bernard Shaw wrote letters to newspapers supporting writers who used the split infinitive, and Raymond Chandler complained to the editor of The Atlantic Monthly about a proofreader who changed Chandler’s split infinitives:
I’m sticking with Shaw on this one. I think he knows just plenty about good writing.
(And yes, you’re right, I did just have a client complain about ‘bad grammar’ in some copy, because there was a split infinitive in there. But I can’t rant at a client, so I’m letting off steam here…)
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Hello Simon
It´s funny, I always considered split infinitives as a very beautiful construction in the English language. As in “to boldly go where no man has gone before.”
Besides, split infinitives can be more precise. “You really have to watch him” has a slightly different meaning than “You have to really watch him”.