A followup to your Volgi’s excellent disarming of Sotomayor’s questionable applications of grammar.

We seemed to have missed another one, in which she rants “Each time I see a split infinitive…I blister.”

She blisters easily, for a split infinitive is perfectly grammatical in English, and its prohibition within manuals of style and writing schools is mythology. English, historically, may be unique among Germanic languages in that they were accepted in its ancient forms. Further, after the Norman Conquest, they were often used, meaning there is not only precedent for them, but that English is structured to accept them, and has done so for the majority of its history.

Rather, the alleged prohibition came about only in the 19th Century—the Czar found some theories on Wikipedia, but his own educational background involved the one labelled “argument from classical languages,” in which the split infinitive prohibition was intensely promoted by the neo-Classicalists taking over the effete areas of British academia. The Czar remembers these folks painfully well: they wanted everything done up in Latin and grew tiresome to him. And because the Latin infinitive is never split (because, for one, as a single word it can’t be), thus English shall never split its infinitives. All of those guys, however, are long dead now, and we need not be bound by their neo-Classical shari‘ah.

Frankly, the Czar is tired that this is still debated, and expects email continuing to refute this. But all reputable and recognized manuals of style allow it under numerous circumstances, except where its use results in awkward text: “It is important to understand the full and very complete rationale for this” is obviously preferable to “It is important to fully and very completely understand the rationale for this,” which just sounds off. [Most of the reluctance to use the passive voice (which she also abhors) is not because the passive voice is wrong, but because overuse results in strange results that can be difficult for the listener or reader.]

The Czar agrees with the general writing concept that “if you are worried about it, you should consider rewriting the sentence entirely” as the reader may also be confused.

Grammar Girl goes to the trouble to provide some examples where splitting the infinitive can be essential to comprehension.

So split away.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.