In english grammar, what is a split infinitive?

Question

I would appreciate a good explanation!

and what is an infinitive?

Answer 1

The most famous split infinitive, uttered by William Shatner in the opening of Star Trek, is "to boldly go where no man has gone before."

The infinitive is the base form of the verb, combined with "to": "to dance," "to run," "to play," etc. If you tuck an adverb between the two words, you have "split" the infinitive.

Grammarians are, appropriately enough, split over whether it's okay to split infinitives. Most of the time, it's okay, and sometimes it's essential. In general, it's not something that most people should worry about. It's grammar-geek stuff.

Answer 2

split infinitive
n.
An infinitive verb form with an element, usually an adverb, interposed between to and the verb form, as in to boldly go.

USAGE NOTE The split infinitive has been present in English ever since the 14th century, but it was not until the 19th century that grammarians labeled and condemned the usage. The only rationale for condemning the construction is based on a false analogy with Latin. The thinking is that because the Latin infinitive is a single word, the equivalent English construction should be treated as if it were a single unit. But English is not Latin, and distinguished writers have split infinitives without giving it a thought. Noteworthy splitters include John Donne, Daniel Defoe, George Eliot, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, William Wordsworth, and Willa Cather. Still, those who dislike the construction can usually avoid it without difficulty. The sense of the sentence To better understand the miners' plight, he went to live in their district is just as easily expressed by To understand the miners' plight better, he went to live in their district. However, one must take care not to ruin the rhythm of the sentence or create an unintended meaning by displacing an adverb. • When choosing to retain split infinitives, one should be wary of constructions that have more than one word between to and the verb. The Usage Panel is evenly divided on the one-adverb split infinitive. Fifty percent accept it in the sentence The move allowed the company to legally pay the employees severance payments that in some cases exceeded $30,000. But only 23 percent of the panel accepts the split infinitive in the sentence We are seeking a plan to gradually, systematically, and economically relieve the burden. In some contexts, the split infinitive is unavoidable, as in the sentence We expect our output to more than double in a year. • Excessive zeal in avoiding the split infinitive may result in an awkward placement of adverbs in constructions involving the auxiliary verbs be and have. Infinitive phrases in which the adverb precedes a participle, such as to be rapidly rising, to be clearly understood, and to have been ruefully mistaken, are not split and should be acceptable to everybody. By the same token, there are no grounds for objecting to the position of the adverb in the sentence He is committed to laboriously assembling all of the facts of the case. What is “split” here is not an infinitive but a prepositional phrase.

Answer 3

The classic example is in the introduction to Star Trek - "to boldly go where no man has gone before". This is a split infinitive as an adverb, boldly, has been inserted between the two words of the infinitive "to go".

Although strictly speaking it's wrong, in practice English grammar is flexible enough to allow things like this, as well as other things like putting a preposition at the end of a sentence ("that's something I will not put up with").

Answer 4

The infinitive of the verb is its root. Therefore the verb to be is conjugated

I am
you are
he/she/it is
they are
we are

The infinitive is the use of the verb without conjugation of the first person (I or we) the second person (you) or the third (he/she/it/they). Consider the sentence

"I long to be famous"

In this we see the the verb to long has been conjugated as the part of the first person but there is a second verb qualifying the verb to long, which is of of course to be. To be is the infinitive.

All verbs are able to take a qualifying adverb as an expressive part of speech. The verb to run can take to QUICKLY run, the adverb being quickly of course. It is held as correct to phrase this as "to run quickly" as putting the adverb inbetween is gramatically incorrect; this putting of the adverb between is the split infinitive.
This rule of grammar was formulated by public and grammar school academics (I was a grammar school boy) and was based on the rules of Latin. Since in Latin verbs are not able to be split as they do not have the "to" form, the rule has always been something of an anomaly in English. In common parlance it has always been ignored, but I well remember being smacked around the ear by a passing master in the playground whenever I used one.

Answer 5

These examples are taken from Microsoft Encarta:

Infinitive
basic form of verb: a form of a verb with no reference to a specific tense, person, or subject.
In English, an infinitive is usually preceded by the word 'to', e.g., 'to see'.

Microsoft® Encarta® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Split Infinitive
phrase separating 'to' and verb: an infinitive in which the 'to' and the verb are separated by another word, as in the phrase 'to seriously think'

Microsoft® Encarta® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Answer 6

It is to recklessly use an infinitive and to carelessly place a word d or words between the "to" and the remainder of the infinitive.OOPS!

Answer 7

For example, "To better play the piano."

"Better" splits the infinitive "To play"