Silently to judge those who split infinitives in thread titles?

[UptheChimney]

Or:

To judge silently those who split infinitives?

I could make up some bollocks theory about what sort of person would split an infinitive in a thread title , but it'd be bollocks, wouldn't it?

YABVU

I judge people who tie themselves in knots trying to avoid splitting infinitives, when there is no good reason to avoid it.

YANBremotelyU.

No need to bandy with those who drone on incoherently about 'rules' or not writing in Latin. Just take it from the master, Fowler, who advises that a split infinitive is a very inelegant thing, but that using one does not necessarily make one a bad writer. Rather, avoid splitting unless by so avoiding you will write something even more ugly or barbarous...

"I think only an english graduate would have a clue what a split infinitive was."

Rubbish. I haven't had an English lesson since O levels and I know exactly what a split infinitive is.

And use them when they are the best solution.

avoid splitting unless by so avoiding you will write something even more ugly or barbarous...

Like the OP's thread title you mean?

I don't think anyone's out there deciding to deliberately split infinitives for no reason, but there's no reason to go out of your way to avoid it if a sentence reads well.

Jeanne thanks for that super explanation. That will stick, it makes sense and I'll draw from it when my children get on to the subject of split infinitives.

Thus far the only explanation that illuminated the split infinitive for me was the Star Trek example because it broke the rule — "To boldly go [...]". A linguist once told me that this was also a good example of how in creative writing, breaking the rules might be the better option. How would it have sounded if they said: "To go boldly"?

I'm sure I split infinitives frequently because my parents were not English speakers so I learned two languages simultaneously. The syntax in their language is different to English and it's left some lasting effects where sentence construction is sometimes a little muddled in my head. I'm definitely not judging anyone, silently or otherwise!

They can sound ugly, though. It sounds better to write, say, "AIBU not to want to go to this wedding" or "AIBU to avoid parking ..." rather than "AIBU to not want" or "AIBU to not park".

Silently to judge much more elegant. The thread title sets my teeth on edge

But that's what I wrote! I prefer that to 'To judge silently'

Serves me right for covertly starting a TAAT.

I'll just give myself another

They can sound ugly, though. It sounds better to write, say, "AIBU not to want to go to this wedding" or "AIBU to avoid parking ..." rather than "AIBU to not want" or "AIBU to not park"

Yes, I find that too. But I'd never ever start a thread about it. Or the use of upper case

So you did. How bizarre. Teach me for being pretentious.

have a

I'm not an English grad, and haven't done English since GCSE, but I know what a split infinitive is. And that the 19th Century grammarians who tried to impose Latin rules on a language that is primarily Germanic rather than Romance were daft.

And that the revised Star Trek line makes no sense: obviously lots of 'ones' have been there before, because they run into local aliens pretty much every episode. 'No humans', but not 'no one'.

I thought that the whole concept of infinitives had been abandoned in favour of the base form?

Thank you.

JeanneDeMontbaston

I assumed your original post referred to the thread about which this thread was started.

Isn't the Latin infinitive one word and therefore not split purely because it is impossible to do so.To then say you shouldn't do it in another language is the same logic as saying 'dogs bark, therefore all four legged animals should'

I'm afraid not, I was just being conspiciously dim. But I was thinking about the other thread, so maybe that's where the crossed wire in my brain was.

I'm admiring your splitting.

For you OP:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1349530-to-deliberately-split-an-infinitive-in-a-thread-title?pg=1