Let's Split! [Infinitves] Not!

✍I guess when you teach, and you teach English, you develop some pet peeves.  I inherited this one from my mom, also a teacher, but she was right.  [Or write!] Infinitives should not be split; they are compound words in English. In other words, the infinitive is one word.  For example," the Spanish "leer" means "to read."  It is one word.  "Ir" means to go and is an irregular verb.  I love Star Trek as much as the next Trekkie, but "To boldly go where no man has gone before" is wrong.  Sorry, GR and friends.  It should read, "boldly to go", or "to go boldly."  Also, please add where "no person" has gone before.




It gripes me; I worked for one school where the so called Chair had two fewer degrees than I did.  He was sexist, dishonest, and nasty, but also didn't know grammar.  He produced canned curricula that were full of split infinitives, mistakes in APA citation, misspellings, and more.  We all make mistakes and typos, but we don't all claim to be the Kings of the English Language sans credentials.


So, I had to rant. Sorry.  I was grading essays and hit a few split infinitives; I had to say something for Mom.

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Skyward February 2019

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