Split infinitive

[szwagier]

Then again, there ain't nothing wrong with double negatives either, linguistically, but those same wrong-headed purists get just as huffy about them, too.

I certainly agree that the purists are wrong-headed, but it's still a fact (at least in the UK) that they have had, and continue to have, considerable influence on educational policy, as a flick through "Standard English: The Widening Debate" (reference in the "essential readings for non-newbies" topic) will show. These are the people who are telling educators what native speaker children should and should not use, the result of which is that not splitting infinitives is one of the few so-called rules that non-linguists and non-tizziers know about their language - along with not using no double negatives.

For so long as that state of affairs continues, I think it's safer to point out to learners that, while there is no linguistic reason to not split infinitives left, right and centre, there are sociolinguistic reasons...

[stephen]

I remember David Crystal saying in one of his books that more people worry about splitting infinitives than know what an infinitive is. He also went on to point out that in some situations they must be split. (Unfortunately, I can't remember the book's title.)

Stephen

[lolwhites]

I think the book you refer to is called Who Cares About English Usage?

[john martin]

Like + ing indicates that a person enjoys an activity.
"I like cleaning the bathroom every day" = "I enjoy cleaning the bathroom every day"

Like + to infinitive means that someone thinks it is a good idea to do something.
"I like to clean the bathroom every day as it is hygenic to do so" = "A dirty bathroom is unhygenic and so I think it is a good to clean it every day"

The above explanation seems to fit English grammar "rules" but does not seem to be important under American English grammar "rules", at least according to Swan in Practical English Usage.

On the split infinitive rule, there is a lovely section in Fowlers Guide to Modern English Usage on the topic. I can't quite remember verbatum but it goes something like this..

There are three types of people..
Those that know about the split infinitive rule and care about it.
Those that know and do not care.
Those that do not know and hence have no need to care.

He suggests that the first type should get a real life and stop annoying every body else with a "silly rule"! Or words to that effect..!!

Personally, I think it is fine to break the "rule", as it seems to have come about artificially rather than through normal patterns of usage.

[Lorikeet]

Like + ing indicates that a person enjoys an activity.
"I like cleaning the bathroom every day" = "I enjoy cleaning the bathroom every day"

Like + to infinitive means that someone thinks it is a good idea to do something.
"I like to clean the bathroom every day as it is hygenic to do so" = "A dirty bathroom is unhygenic and so I think it is a good to clean it every day"

I can also say "I like to clean the bathroom every day because it's so much fun."

Well, I'd never really say that. My sentences would probably be more like:

I don't like cleaning the bathroom every day. or
I don't like to clean the bathroom every day.

They sound the same to me.

I like playing on the computer. and
I like to play on the computer.

also seem the same to me.

Lorikeet

[lolwhites]

Usually they do sound the same and are pretty much interchangeable. However, there is a subtle difference as one of my earlier posts showed:

Let's take the following pair:
I like to dance. (Refers to the speaker performing the action)
I like dancing. (Doing or watching? We don't know)

Now let's try a context: Someone in a wheelchair has just told you that they're going to watch the Bolshoi Ballet. How would you reply?
1) So you like to dance?
2) So you like dancing?

Obviously this difference only shows up in certain contexts; in the examples we've seen in previous posts to+BF and BF-ing are interchangeable, but this is not always the case so be careful how you explain this to your students. If you tell them they are the same thing, you're giving a guideline, not a rule.

[LarryLatham]

Now let's try a context: Someone in a wheelchair has just told you that they're going to watch the Bolshoi Ballet. How would you reply?
1) So you like to dance?
2) So you like dancing?

This is the best example I've ever seen on this particular issue, lolwhites. It helps to clear away some of the mists of confusion for me on something I've never felt I've understood well. Thanks for the lesson!

Larry Latham

[Andrew Patterson]

"Space, the final frontier...These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise, her five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisation, to boldly go where no man has gone before."

("To go boldly" somehow doesn't have the same ring about it.)

[María Yépez]

While I was reading this thread (which I really enjoyed), I was thinking about this last point.

To me, there may be a question of emphasis involved. Would you say the scope of never or boldly changes when you split the infinitive?
I think it does.

But then, I'm a native speaker of Spanish...

[Andrew Patterson]

Not may be a question of emphasis, it is. The split infinitive is one way of expressing emphasis in English. There shouldn't be any controversy here. I cannot understand why people are still debating the split infinitive.

Andrew Patterson.

[ardsboy]

The baseform may have quite a few grammar functions, a notorious case being thge baseform 'cut', which performs four functions: (1) present tense, (2) past tense, (3) past participle, (4) infinitive, and (5) noun. For that reason the term infinitive is still useful. Nor is the complete infinitive necessarily only one verbform, e.g. You must be joking (= continuous inf.), You couldn't have known (= perfect simple inf.), You can't have been listening (= perfect continuous inf). Cheers, john.