A split infinitive is a grammatical construction specific to English in which an adverb (or adverbial phrase) appears within an infinitive phrase. The classic example – notably up with which Vulcans simply put – is in the opening sequence of the Star Trek television series: "to boldly go where no man has gone before".
Split infinitives have long been deprecated as incorrect, or at least avoidable, despite their frequent use in the vernacular. Since the 19th century linguistic prescriptivists have sought to categorically disallow split infinitives, but recent editions of English usage guides have largely dropped their objection to it.
Read by Timwi. Recorded March 13, 2005; the article may have changed since. The article as it stood when recorded: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=156660133 Article today: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_infinitive Original recording: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Split_infinitive.ogg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/). This episode is a format-shifted (MP3) copy redistributed under the same license.
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