Dictionary of English - split infinitive

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The infinitive is the basic form of a verb, with no added endings in English. For example, come in Can you come? is an infinitive. English often uses to with an infinitive, as in I'd like to come, and to has come to be regarded as part of the infinitive.

Grammarians in the 17th and 18th centuries, formulating the 'rules' of English grammar, based their views on the structure of Latin, which was considered to represent the high point of linguistic development. In Latin, the infinitive consists of a single word ('to come', for instance, is venire), which self-evidently cannot be interrupted by another word. These English grammarians therefore decided that the English two-word infinitive should not be interrupted by another word either, and their injunction against the split infinitive survives to the present time: 'Do not insert an adverb or adverbial phrase between to and the following verb'.

The tenuous basis of the ban has been pointed out often enough for most people to be aware of it, but the prejudice against the split infinitive seems to be firmly embedded in English speakers' psyche. So, should one split or not split.

Perhaps the most important point to make is that there are some contexts in which it is virtually impossible not to split the infinitive, and that in those cases you should go ahead and do so rather than produce a nonsensical sentence. For example, We've been asked to more than triple our contribution, although it contains a split infinitive, is at least a well-formed English sentence; We've been asked more than to triple our contribution is ungrammatical.

A particular danger of forcibly unsplitting an infinitive is that it can change the meaning of the sentence. For instance, She asked me to kindly close the door clearly indicates that she said, 'Kindly close the door'. If you eliminate the split infinitive you get either: She asked me kindly to close the door, which could mean something entirely different, or: She kindly asked me to close the door, which certainly does.

Apart from cases like this, where comprehensibility and clarity call for a split infinitive, splitting is a matter of personal preference. Do it if you want to, but be aware that it annoys some people. Try to avoid a very long adverbial phrase or string of adverbs between to and the verb, which generally produces an inelegant effect: It has been decided to finally and with immediate effect close the swimming pool.

Remember that in formal writing, where grammatical conservativeness is the norm, there is more of a case for not splitting infinitives than in everyday writing and speech. But even there, try to avoid the thumping unsplit infinitive with the adverb in front of the to, the sort which says 'Look at me, I'm not splitting the infinitive!': The government has promised seriously to consider the proposals draws attention to its own structure; The government has promised to consider the proposals seriously is structurally unobtrusive, and allows us to concentrate on its meaning. Take account of the rhythm and balance of the sentence when deciding whether to split the infinitive; don't just do it, or not do it, dogmatically.

Linguistic insecurity can lead people to avoid structures which they mistakenly think are split infinitives. There is no need, for instance, to contort The talks are said to have completely collapsed into The talks are said completely to have collapsed, because completely does not come between to and have, and this is therefore not an example of a split infinitive.

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