Editing Split infinitive (section)

{{short description|English grammatical construction}}
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A '''split infinitive''' is a [[grammatical construction]] specific to English in which an [[adverb]] or [[adverbial phrase]] separates the "to" and "[[infinitive]]" [[Constituent (linguistics)|constituents]] of what was traditionally called the "full infinitive", but is more commonly known in modern [[linguistics]] as the to-infinitive (e.g., ''to go'').

In the history of English language aesthetics, the split infinitive was often deprecated, despite its prevalence in [[Colloquialism|colloquial speech]]. The [[Title sequence|opening sequence]] of the ''[[Star Trek]]'' television series contains a well-known example, "[[Where no man has gone before|'''to ''boldly'' go''' where no man has gone before]]", wherein the adverb ''boldly'' was said to split the full infinitive, ''to go''. 
Multiple words may split a to-infinitive, such as: "The population is expected '''to ''more than'' double''' in the next ten years."

In the 19th century, some [[linguistic prescriptivists]] sought to forever disallow the split infinitive, and the resulting conflict had considerable cultural importance. The construction still renders disagreement, but modern English usage guides have largely dropped the objection to it.<ref name=Walsh112>{{cite book|last=Walsh|first=Bill|author-link=Bill Walsh (author)|title=Lapsing into a comma: a curmudgeon's guide to the many things that can go wrong in print—and how to avoid them|location=Lincolnwood, Illinois|editor=Contemporary Books|year=2000|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lapsingintocomma00wals/page/112 112–113]|isbn=0-8092-2535-2|publisher=Contemporary Books|url=https://archive.org/details/lapsingintocomma00wals/page/112}}</ref>

The ''split infinitive'' terminology is not widely used in modern linguistics. Some linguists question whether a to-infinitive phrase can meaningfully be called a "full infinitive" and, consequently, whether an infinitive can be "split" at all.