Editing Split infinitive (section)

==== Analogy ====
Traditional grammarians have suggested that the construction appeared because people frequently place adverbs before finite verbs. [[George Oliver Curme|George Curme]] writes: "If the adverb should immediately precede the finite verb, we feel that it should immediately precede also the infinitive…"<ref name="Curme1927">{{cite journal | last = Curme | first = George | author-link = George Oliver Curme | title = The Split Infinitive | journal = American Speech | volume = 2 | issue = 8 |date=May 1927|pages = 341–342 | doi = 10.2307/452976 | publisher = Duke University Press | jstor = 452976}}</ref> Thus, if one says:
:''She gradually '''got''' rid of her stutter.'' and
:''She '''will''' gradually '''get''' rid of her stutter.''
one may, by analogy, wish to say:
:''She'' wants '''''to''' gradually '''get''' rid of her stutter.''
This is supported by the fact that split infinitives are often used as echoes, as in the following exchange, in which the riposte parodies the slightly odd collocation in the original sentence:
:Child: ''I accidentally forgot to feed the hamster.''
:Parent: ''Well, you'll have to try harder not'' to "accidentally forget", ''won't you?''
This is an example of an adverb being transferred into split infinitive position from a parallel position in a different construction.