How many newspapers run a grammar column . . . let alone two? Quite the unique and educational opportunity, wouldn’t you say? Especially when the two Insider grammarians are on opposite ends of the spectrum – an intellectual vs. a fun-loving grammar aficionado.
This fun-loving grammar aficionado chuckles as she brings grammar to life. One might think from the Grammarnator’s columns that he would like to change the Grammarmatrix’s name to Grammarnot. Grammar-eh? Grammarnoway!
The headline in last week’s grammar column contained a contradiction. It read: “A friendly back and forth” with an added subtitle, “or the war of the grammar zombies.” So what is it? Friendly? A war? A friendly war? Is it a back and forth? Or just a “forth” as the Grammarnator reports only on the Grammarmatrix’s works? How confusing! Sigh. Well, someone has to decide, so since the Grammarmatrix is a grammarpeacenik she’ll leave the warring to the men!
That said, and because the previous 156 words don’t justify a whole column, the Grammarmatrix continues to expound in her usual manner, this week on split infinitives.
To boldly go where no man has gone before is the most fearless and famous example of a split infinitive. Never heard of a split infinitive? An infinitive is the word “to” plus the base form of a verb, as in “to hike,” “to write,” “to help.” And now for the technical explanation: A split infinitive is when the modifying word comes between to and the verb, thus splitting them, e.g., to enthusiastically hike, to secretly write, to grudgingly help.
The Insider’s example of a split infinitive was, “ . . . but to also develop relationships . . . ” To avoid the split infinitive, the sentence could have been written, “but also to develop relationships,” and it wouldn’t have changed the meaning one iota.
Now, bless the English language for all its contradictions. While “not splitting” an infinitive is the rule, “splitting” isn’t always an act of grammatical devastation. I wouldn’t go around town liberally splitting infinitives, but there’s also no point in massacring a sentence just to avoid one!
