The Split Infinitive

Grammar with Gary #2

No, you haven’t inadvertently stumbled into a science blog, despite what the title might suggest. Today’s post is all about verbs, and whether or not you should ‘split’ certain forms of verb by inserting an adverb in the middle. It has nothing to do with the kind of things they probably get up to at CERN (although I suppose some of their scientific journals might contain split infinitives. Who knows? Perhaps I should contact Professor Brian Cox and offer my proofreading services…)

Anyway, I was inspired to write this post upon recently hearing perhaps the most famous split infinitive in history, as spoken by Captain James T. Kirk during the opening credits of Star Trek:

“To boldly go where no man has gone before.”

Now what’s wrong with that? I hear you cry. Actually, not an awful lot! (60s sexism aside.) Did anyone even spot the split infinitive? Humans have been splitting infinitives for centuries without issue, so why worry about it? Well, there are some cases where it’s best to avoid this, as I will demonstrate in this post. But first, a quick (and very basic) lesson on verbs and adverbs.

Verbs

Verbs are most commonly defined as words that express some kind of action or ‘doing’ something: walking, eating, sleeping, etc. But more than that, verbs express states of being or ‘having’: I am tired; I have a headache. Verbs form the main part of a sentence (or part of a sentence), as in:

• I left the house at 7pm after eating dinner.
• I drive to work every day.

Verbs come in many shapes and sizes including main and auxiliary, finite and non-finite, transitive and intransitive, and regular and irregular (the verbs that have more or less fibre in their diets). I won’t go into detail about them here as that would take far too much time, suffice it to say there are lots of different verb forms and we all mostly know how to use them without needing to understand their precise definitions.

Adverbs

But what of adverbs? Put simply, an adverb is a word or phrase that describes a verb (they can also describe adjectives or phrases, but today we’re focusing on verbs), such as quickly, slowly, loudly, or gently.

• I quickly left the house at 7pm after hurriedly eating dinner.
• I cautiously drive to work every day.

Like verbs, there are many ways to use adverbs, and also like verbs we use them in our everyday lives without really thinking about them too much.

‘Hang on a second,’ you might be thinking. ‘I thought we were going to learn about the split infinitive! Or at least see some funny Star Trek pictures.’ Absolutely right (on both counts). So without further ado, let’s get to it!

The infinitive verb, and how to split it (and why you sometimes shouldn’t)

One of the many verb forms is the infinitive; this is the base form of the verb usually preceded by to; here are a few examples:

• I forgot to lock the front door
• Grammar is difficult to understand
• There’s lots of work to do
• To speak candidly, I wish I’d watched Star Trek instead of reading this blog

So how does one ‘split’ an infinitive verb? Easy! By inserting an adverb between the ‘to’ and the main ‘stem’ of the verb, as follows:

• To quickly run to the shops
• To hungrily eat
• To boldly go where no man has gone before

In these examples, the split infinitive isn’t really a problem – whether you say ‘to boldly go’ or ‘to go boldly’ makes no difference to the meaning of the phrase, and there isn’t really a ‘rule’ about splitting infinitive verbs anyway – it’s just one of those things that grammarians and traditionalists insist must never happen because… reasons. In many cases, trying to avoid splitting verbs in this way can cause more headaches than not splitting them, and can lead to some very wordy sentences!

It’s worth keeping in mind, however, that in some cases putting the adverb in the ‘split’ position can alter the meaning of the sentence, so there are times when it’s best to be careful:

• The conspirators planned secretly to meet up
• The conspirators planned to secretly meet up

The difference is subtle, but in the first example the adverb secretly relates to the verb planned, while in the second example the adverb relates to the verb to meet. In other words, the conspirators either planned their meeting in secret or planned to meet in a secret place. It’s not a huge difference, but like I said it’s worth keeping in mind in case you inadvertently put across the wrong meaning.

Yes, you’re finally at the end! I know this post was a bit technical, but I hope it proved useful in explaining what the split infinitive is and how it can change the meaning of sentences. I enjoyed writing this post, at least. I mean, I got to Google funny Star Trek pictures, so not a bad day’s work really.

Live long and prosper, and see you next time!