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English Corner

Scientific English grammar and style   English Corner   Glossary of English grammar and style  

English Corner 2: the split infinitive

It has been said of split infinitives that there are those who do not know what they are, those who do know but don’t care if they are split, those who don’t know but care a lot, and those who know and take care not to split them. Scientist aiming for clarity should belong to the last group. An infinitive is split when a word (usually an adverb) or phrase is inserted between the verb and the infinitive marker to. The position of adverbs in sentences is important in denoting subtle differences in meaning: adverbs before the verb generally relate to the subject’s approach to the verb whereas adverbs after the verb relate to his performance of it: adverbs splitting the verb provide neither indication. Some word combinations bring double meanings hold the reader up and force him to go back to understand just what is meant.

Split infinitive constructions should be avoided to prevent confusion shown below.

Infinitives split by adverbs
In many cases adverbs are used to add emphasis to verbs when placed before them: [I advise you immediately to start the incubation] brings an urgency to it (perhaps the water in the incubator is rapidly evaporating) that the alternative form [I advise you to start the incubation immediately] lacks, which implies only that if you don’t start now, you may need to stay late to finish the experiment. With the infinitive split [I advise you to immediately start the incubation] these meanings are lost.
Other adverbs, including the oft-quoted to boldly go, similarly provide little useful information. Was it bold (brave) to go at all into the unknown, or was the going bold rather than hesitant? In sentences with two verbs [He proceeded to boldly answer the question] it is unclear to which verb bold refers. If the adverb is placed after proceeded (boldly to answer) it was brave of him to answer the questions at all (he may have decided not to attend), if after answer (to answer boldly) he delivered the answers in a confident manner.

Infinitives split by a negative
[I think it better to not admit that I deleted the file] is incorrect for the reason that the negating word not should be placed immediately before the verb it negates and the verb here is an infinitive. In the correct form [I think it better not to admit that you deleted the file] the position of not clearly indicates that it negates to admit.
A similar construction [He wanted to no more than go through the motions of helping out] is incorrect because no more than is an adverb than only governs an infinitive without the infinitive marker to (here go). The correct form for emphasis is to employ the verb to do [He wanted to do no more than go through the motions of helping out].

Infinitives split by words that may be verbs
In [This work was done to better understand the causes of male infertility] the reader initially expects better to be the verb (meaning to improve) whereas it is used here as an adverb. Understanding is clearly improved when the adverb comes after the verb [This work was done to understand better the causes of male infertility] or its object [This work was done to understand male infertility better].
Similarly in [The current work was designed to further investigate the action of A23187 on the acrosome reaction] the reader first expects further to be the verb (meaning to develop) and then rethinks when he realises it is used as an adverb. With the adverb close to the verb [The current work was designed to investigate further the action of A23187 on the acrosome reaction] it is made clear that more investigations are being studied. Having further close to the verb is important, for placing it at the end of the sentence [The current work was designed to investigate the action of A23187 on the acrosome reaction further] demands a lot of the reader’s memory and may also make him read the sentence twice.

Infinitives split by adverbs that may govern more than one verb
In [I did not dare to actually speak to him] it is unclear which verb the adverb actually governs, to dare or to speak. Which one is so governed is made clear by moving the adverb before the auxiliary verb, if the daring was a problem [I did not actually dare to speak to him] or before the infinitive [I did not dare actually to speak to him], if the speaking was a problem (if you’d prefer to send an email).
Similar confusion is built into [He resolved to quietly creep along the corridor], where it is unclear if the resolution made in the quiet or the creeping was done silently. Again, in [She endeavoured to very exactly copy the experimental methods] it is unclear whether the endeavouring or the copying was exact. In these two examples it is fairly obvious to a native English speaker what is meant, but to a non-native English speaker it may not be so clear.

When either probably or first split infinitives
A slightly different loss of meaning occurs in [I expected her to probably write to the Editor] because it is unclear whether probably governs what she wrote or to whom. By moving the adverb before the infinitive [I expected her probably to write to the Editor] the emphasis is on the importance of what she did (perhaps she wrote rather than telephoned); in moving the adverb after the infinitive [I expected her to write probably to the Editor] the emphasis is on whom she wrote to (perhaps the editor rather than her colleagues).
Likewise, in [I expected her to first write to the Editor] it is unclear whether the verb or the recipient is governed by first. By moving the ordinal number before the infinitive [I expected her first to write to the Editor] she would perhaps do something other than writing to him thereafter; by moving it after the infinitive [I expected her to write first to the Editor], she would perhaps continue writing after finishing her letter to the Editor, but to someone else.

When both probably and first split infinitives
In [He expected her to probably first write to the Editor] it is unclear which adverb governs the verb and which the indirect object. Care should be taken when avoiding the split infinitive by placing the adverbs either side of the infinitive, since the meaning depends on which one comes before the verb. When probably comes first [He expected her probably to write first to the Editor] the emphasis is on which of several people she most likely (probably) will write to, and the Editor is first on the list. The alternative [He expected her first to write probably to the Editor] is nonsense: if it is expected to whom she will first write, probably is not needed at all.
When probably defines a whole sentence (meaning it is probable that), the meaning is completely different; in [Probably he expected her to write first to the Editor] you are wondering what he expected, not what she was doing.

By Dr Trevor G Cooper (ctrevorg@gmail.com)

 
Asian Journal of Andrology CN 31-1795/R ISSN 1008-682X  Copyright © 2023  Shanghai Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences.  All rights reserved.