split infinitive
noun
What is a split infinitive?: Usage Guide
The split infinitive was discovered and named in the 19th century. 19th century writers seem to have made greater use of this construction than earlier writers; the frequency of occurrence attracted the disapproving attention of grammarians, many of whom thought it to be a modern corruption. The construction had in fact been in occasional use since the 14th century; only its frequency had changed. Even though there has never been a rational basis for objecting to the split infinitive, the subject has become a fixture of folk belief about grammar. You can hardly publish a sentence containing one without hearing about it from somebody. Modern commentators know the split infinitive is not a vice, but they are loath to drop such a popular subject. They usually say it's all right to split an infinitive in the interest of clarity. Since clarity is the usual reason for splitting, this advice means merely that you can split them whenever you need to.
Examples of split infinitive in a Sentence
Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Jan. 2024
The next year, President Kennedy made a resonant decision: to boldly go, as the Star Trek prologue was to put it in a ringing split infinitive, where no man had gone before.
—Anthony Haden-Guest, Harper's Magazine, 26 Oct. 2021
The app and browser extension works across programs and platforms, pointing out your split infinitives in emails, word processors, websites, or on social media.
—Kim Komando, USA TODAY, 10 Apr. 2020
Of course, split infinitives, dangling modifiers, and subject-verb disagreements have always appeared wherever words are uttered or keys are stroked.
—Jake Cline, The Atlantic, 10 Aug. 2019
For the prigs, the mania for FAANG stocks is as abhorrent as a split infinitive.
—The Economist, 23 June 2018
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Matthew Arnold, Anthony Trollope, Mark Twain, George Eliot, Henry James, Thomas Hardy, Theodore Roosevelt and Rudyard Kipling all split infinitives.
—The Economist, 26 Apr. 2018
The app and browser extension works across programs and platforms, pointing out your split infinitives in email, word processors, websites or on social media.
—Kim Komando, USA TODAY, 16 Feb. 2018
Sime wielded a thick black pencil that split infinitives, popularized inventive adjectives and nouns (hoofer, chantoosies, warblers, kidvid, boffo) and turned other nouns into verbs (authored, readied, helmed).
—Sam Roberts, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2017
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'split infinitive.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near split infinitive
Cite this Entry
“Split infinitive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/split%20infinitive. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.
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