Way back in 2014, U.S.-based Forum reader C. Gordon Hale expressed appreciation for my column against the excessive use of annoying clichés like “at the end of the day,” observing that not only in the Philippines was English badly corrupted by vulgar colloquialisms and abysmal grammar. “The state of contemporary English usage in the U.S. [itself] is truly lamentable!” he said.
He added disappointedly though: “Please forgive me, but I couldn’t help but react to the split infinitives in your paragraphs 9 and 10—‘to never again’—
really?”
In reply, I said that I’m aware that splitting infinitives could turn out bad for English prose, but I do split them at will for stylistic and grammatically valid purposes.
To put things in context, I emphasized that while most authorities in modern English grammar have dropped their long-held stern objection to split infinitives, their continuing incidence has remained fodder for controversy. My personal position though is that unless splitting an infinitive results in bad syntax or semantics, taking recourse to that split shouldn’t really be cause for alarm.
Consider the two instances where Mr. Hale saw apparent split infinitives in my column that he had referred to
(italicizations mine):
“Second, public officials from the national level down to the local governments should undergo an English reorientation program
designed to, among others, curb their predilection for using “at the end of the day” and other dreadful clichés in public speaking engagements and media interviews.
“And third, TV and radio network owners should seriously consider penalizing talk-show hosts or news anchors with hefty fines for overusing “at the end of the day” and such clichés, and
to never again invite talk-show guests who habitually spout them more than, say, twice in a row during a particular show.”
In my first paragraph, Mr. Hale considered the phrase “to, among others, curb their predilection for using ‘at the end of the day’” as an infinitive phrase split by the adverbial “among others.” Grammatically, however, it isn’t a split infinitive phrase at all, for its “to” is actually
not an infinitive marker but a preposition of purpose linking the verb “designed” to its complement “curb their predilection.”
Even assuming for argument’s sake that that form is an infinitive phrase, it still would be necessary to split it for clarity’s sake. For in unsplit form, that phrase would read as follows: “…an English reorientation program designed, among others,
to curb their predilection...” This gives the wrong idea that several English reorientation programs were designed for only one purpose, not that there was only one program designed for several purposes.
In my second paragraph, for greater emphasis, I split the infinitive phrase “to invite talk-show guests” by inserting “never again,” resulting in the genuine split infinitive
“to never again invite talk-show guests who habitually spout them.” Now see how confusing that statement would be when the infinitive phrase is unsplit and the adverbial “never again” is placed ahead of it: “…TV and radio network owners
should seriously consider never again to invite talk-show guests who habitually spout them.” Here, “never again” has become a squinting modifier, seemingly modifying both the verb “consider” and the infinitive “to invite.”
The tone and syntax of that statement gets even more troublesome when, just to avoid the split, the adverbial “never again” is positioned between the
to-infinitive and its object “talk-show guests.” The statement would then read so awfully this way: “…TV and radio network owners should seriously consider
to invite talk-show guests
never again who habitually spout them more than, say, twice in a row during a particular show.”
Clearly, we can see in this case that unless splitting the infinitive makes the statement sound badly or alters its sense, the split is really perfectly acceptable usage.
(Next week:
The participial phrase as multiword adjective) May 19, 2022
This essay, 2098th of the series, appeared in the column “English Plain and Simple” by Jose A. Carillo in the Campus Press section of the May 12, 2022 Internet edition of The Manila Times
, ©2022 by the Manila Times Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.Read this essay online in
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When it becomes a must to split infinitivesVisit Jose Carillo’s English Forum, http://josecarilloforum.com. You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter and e-mail me at j8carillo@yahoo.com.
