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SPLIT DECISION

John has a book with 'writing tips' near the toilet and, from time to time, I delve into the rich store of comments by famous writers.

Today I read about split infinitives.

I totally realized that I had completely forgotten about this.

I absolutely mean that I pretty much do not even know what an infinitive is, let alone split the little bastard.

So I assiduously looked it up and found that the split infinitive and its allowability in correct use is decidedly unresolved.

Only 23 % of grammarians completely agree on whether it usually is OK to split one or not.

I decided that I would temporarily put this issue aside and not worry about it much.

At the bottom of the discussion on infinitives, there is a reference to splitting a prepositional phrase.

OK. What is a preposition?

That is the thing that you cannot end a sentence with.

See?

One thing leads to another.

You put these rules all together and you have a totally great language to wallow around in.

I bet Mr. Roan who taught me English for four years is absolutely rotating in his grave right now.

Labels: grammar