WTF series: what is a split infinitive?

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What do Star Trek and grammar have in common?

The split infinitive, of course!

For decades, grammar pedants have enjoyed ruining the intro to Star Trek OS by telling everyone within earshot that ‘to boldly go’ is a split infinitive.

But Gene Roddenberry wasn’t a moron and split infinitives aren’t a grammar error. Not unless you live in the 1800s. Which you don’t. Because you’re reading this.

Let’s start this away mission…

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What’s an infinitive?

Infinitives are created when you pair a verb with the word ‘to’.

For example:

To vomit

To moonwalk

To conjure Satan

…and Bob’s your uncle, you’ve got yourself an infinitive.

How do you split an infinitive?

Easy, babe. To split that sucker, just slip an adverb between the two halves of your infinitive.

To violently vomit

To casually moonwalk

To Satanically conjure

It you want to ‘unsplit’ that shit, just take your adverb out and reunite the two halves of your infinitive. Bosh.

Is the split infinitive rule bullshit?

Short answer…yes. Nowadays, the split infinitive rule is kinda moot (unless you’re Grammarly 😒).

The rule was first published in Henry Alford’s book, The Queen’s English. This shit ain’t a new release, neither — it was published in 1864. It’s also not written as a rule but as a recommendation.

My advice? Do what you want, mate. If your target reader splits infinitives willy nilly, then it’d be smart to do the same.

If you like tidy sentences, cut ‘em out.

If you don’t care either way…then I’d question your motivation for reading this blog post.

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Now you’re free to brazenly split your infinitives or keep them infinite. Whatever you like, babs.

Want me to take care of it for you? I’d be delighted! Give me a shout and let’s get this show on the road.