While often attributed to lowth, this particular rule doesnt gain prominence until nearly 41 years later, in 1803 when john comly, in his english grammar made easy to the teacher and pupil, notes. In 1924, fowler cowrote an entire book on the split infinitive. The chicago guide to grammar, usage, and punctuation by bryan. Over and out frank mcnally on why fine gael is not the. In the english language, a split infinitive or cleft infinitive is a grammatical co. In it, he proscribed the use of split infinitives in english precisely. Frances was born on may 10 1773, in st edmunds, wiltshire. The chicago guide to grammar, usage, and punctuation is a magisterial work, the culmination of garners lifelong study of the english language. The prescriptive use of lowths work instigated a long line of prescriptive grammars up to the present day, including henry watson fowlers modern english usage, reissued in a new edition in 1996. The bibliography is the list of books this thesis is based on and used for the formation.
Pdf the split infinitive in modern english maria semerjyan. Lowth has often been held responsible for all later prescriptive rules, including the split infinitive. Its impossible to split a latin infinitive because theres nothing to split. The most famous split infinitive comes at the beginning of every episode of star trek, when the crews continuing mission is announced as. Although it is sometimes reported that a prohibition on split infinitives goes back to renaissance times, and frequently the 18th century scholar robert lowth is cited as the originator of the prescriptive rule, such a rule is not to be found in lowth s writing, and is not known to appear in any text before the 19th century. Aug 12, 20 the man responsible for this nonrule is robert lowth, a bishop who lived in the mid1700s. The split infinitive in electronic corpora concordia university. As ingrid tieken boon van ostade has shown, however, lowths prescriptivism is. When i split an infinitive, god damn it, i split it so it will stay split. Do you know why, eighteenth century grammarian robert lowth decided we shouldnt split infinitives. He wrote the first popular grammar book to say that a preposition a. The socalled split infinitive many copy editors around the world, particularly in the usa, still appear to believe that the split infinitive is some kind of grammatical sin despite what nearly all the quality handbooks of grammar and style actually say, so it may be useful to provide some additional commentary here. Some guy named henry alford who wrote the book the kings english decided that since you cant split infinitives in latin, you shouldnt be splitting infinitives in english. Its no longer considered a crime to split an infinitive or end a sentence with a.
The earliest prohibition of the usage was in 1762, when robert lowth argued that because a split infinitive was not permissible in latin, it should not be permissible in english. He wrote the first popular grammar book to say that a preposition a positioning word, like at, by, for, into, off, on, out, over, to, under, up, with shouldnt go at the end of a sentence. He thought that a adam and eve spoke hebrew, that b latin came from hebrew, and that c english came from l. He thought that a adam and eve spoke hebrew, that b latin derived from hebrew and that c english derived from latin. This book is a remarkable work, solidly researched and written with finesse and attention to detail. For example, a split infinitive occurs in the opening sequence of the star trek television series. Jul 19, 2016 an infinitive, or bare infinitive is a simple form of a verb. Several grammar books were published during the 18th century. The most influential grammarian of his day was robert lowth, whose 1762 short. The result is a landmark resource that will offer clear guidelines to students, writers, and editors alike.
They fulfilled the demand among a growing middle class for guidance on how to use polite or correct english. Split infinitives are common in english, and have been since before the time of william shakespeare. Robert lowth historical records and family trees myheritage. In a 1762 grammar book, lowth decreed that than should be treated as a conjunction, not a preposition, before a personal pronoun. Aug 15, 2017 the condemnation of the split infinitive seems so devoid of adequate justification that, personally, i am accustomed to look upon it as merely idiosyncratic. Split infinitives go unremarked in my classroom, and a student can ask. Others have mentioned him, but they didnt say why he made up the rules. The truth about prepositions and the end of sentences. Robert lowth, an academic and anglican bishop, compiled this extremely successful work that was reissued around 45 times between 1762 and 1800. As with irish political parties, or nearly, the first item on the agenda for some oldschool grammarians still is the split infinitive.
Controversy rages over whether you may split an infinitive by putting other words between the to and the infinitive verb. The problem of the split infinitive comes up only when the infinitive appears with the preposition to and an accompanying adverb or adverbial phrase. For more about these and other language myths, check out our books. The split infinitive construction is routinely dated to the 14th century. Tiekenboon van ostade traces the book to lowths own ambitions, noting. Most of what you think you know about grammar is wrong. Since to isnt part of the infinitive, theres nothing to split. As ingrid tieken boon van ostade has shown, however, lowth s prescriptivism is less. Johnson the original sins of grammarians still plague the rulebooks. Today, according to the american heritage book of english usage, people split infinitives all the time without giving it a thought. Robert henry lowth was born on month day 1801, at birth place, to rev robert lowth and frances fanny lowth born harington. The socalled split infinitive the university of edinburgh. Examples include to write, to go, to talk, to sit, and to understand.
Since clarity is the usual reason for splitting, this advice means merely that you can split them whenever you need to. In an effort to elevate the status of english, which is a germanic language, he tried to impose some of the rules of latin onto english. Lowth decried preposition stranding and the double negative. Nov 24, 2014 this is the exact same reasoning behind why, for a very brief time, it was considered incorrect in some circles to split an infinitive. Dec, 2018 the image of lowth as a stern bishop with strict ideas about the use of the english language and its grammar may, however, not be welldeserved. The idea that you shouldnt put an adverb in the middle of an infinitive was mentioned earlier but was most prominently introduced by henry alford, the dean of canterbury, in his 1864 book the queens english. In the english language, a split infinitive or cleft infinitive is a grammatical construction in which. It is worth noting that it is impossible to split an infinitive in latin, since the latin infinitive is a single word.
Examples include write, go, talk, sit, and understand. It is worth noting that it is impossible to split an infinitive. The grammar police belong in the 18th century lets not. The 18th century grammarian in question was robert lowth, whose a short introduction to english grammar appeared in 1762.
The 18th century saw an explosion in the publication of books about. An 18thcentury anglican bishop named robert lowth wrote the first popular grammar book. The idea that you cant came from bishop robert lowth, who wrote the first grammar book. The use of the idiom can be defended on various grounds, not the least substantial of which is the need of allowing language that freedom from purely artificial restraints which it. A split infinitive is an englishlanguage grammatical construction in which a word or phrase, usually an adverb or adverbial phrase, comes between the marker to and the bare infinitive uninflected form of a verb. When a participle, such as to, appears before an infinitive, it is then referred to as a full infinitive. Influential, many listened to him including bishop robert lowth, a fellow of the royal society of london and author of a short introduction to english grammar 1762. Sep 21, 20 in 1795 his book english grammar help set lowths rules in stone, particularly the rules regarding the double negative and ending a sentence with a preposition. The split infinitive, first commented on in the early 1830s bailey 1996. World heritage encyclopedia, the aggregation of the largest online encyclopedias available, and the most definitive collection ever assembled. Back in the times when an s was printed in form that more resembled the letter f, robert lowth began his english grammar preface with the english language hath been much cultivated during the last two hundred years.
Unfortunately, his textbook, a short introduction to english grammar first published in 1762. Rev was born on march 26 1762, in hinton ampner, hampshire. Split infinitive project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks. Although it is sometimes reported that a prohibition on split infinitives goes back to renaissance times, and frequently the 18th century scholar robert lowth is cited as the originator of the prescriptive rule, such a rule is not to be found in lowth s writing, and is not known to appear in any text before the 19th century possibly the earliest comment against split infinitives was by the. Grammarians will often tell you not to split infinitives, but you see writers do it all the time. It can usually be recognized by the word to in front of it. And if we split an infinitive, we can echo raymond chandler. On these pages this list of irregular verbs includes forms of the past tense and past participle no longer in use. If you put these adverbial words between the to and the verb, you have split the infinitive. The man responsible for this nonrule is robert lowth, a bishop who lived in the mid1700s. I have never seen any reference to it from before the 19th century, so if you mean that discussion of the split infinitive had not been invented in lowth s time this is true.
At that time, english was a lowstatus language, and latin was the educated lingua franca of europe. An infinitive is a verb in its simplest form, right out of the box. I notice in many newspaper articles these days a frequent. He is sometimes blamed for the completely baseless prohibition of the split infinitivebut he said. Split infinitives have, traditionally, been regarded by some commentators as anathema, something to be avoided at all costs. The grammar police belong in the 18th century lets not inflict their.
Most of what you think you know about grammar is wrong arts. We can blame an eighteenthcentury english clergyman and latin scholar named robert lowth for saddling us with this one. I can hardly blame allan and burridge for not having seen my book, but it does show sloppy research. In 1795 his book english grammar help set lowth s rules in stone, particularly the rules regarding the double negative and ending a sentence with a preposition. Anglican bishop robert lowth popularized the prohibition against.