Re David Roberts’ letter deploring your use of a split infinitive (29 June); Fowler, the acknowledged authority on English usage, says: “The split infinitive is … best avoided, especially when it is stylistically awkward. But it is not a major error nor a grammatical blunder; it is acceptable, even necessary, when considerations of rhythm and clarity require it.” What’s good enough for Fowler is good enough for me.
Salley Vickers
London
• The “rule” about not splitting infinitives doesn’t apply to English: it derives from the mistaken notion that the English verb consists in a single word that mustn’t be interrupted in the middle, in common with Latin and the Romance languages derived from it. “To hardly try” is correct English; “to try hardly” is nonsense, and “hardly to try” in most contexts sounds formal. I always encourage students to write expressively, which often entails putting something (normally an adverb) between “to” and whatever verb is being used.
Angelica Goodden
Emeritus professor of French, University of Oxford
• The magisterial Guardian style guide confirms that “It is perfectly acceptable, and often desirable, to sensibly split infinitives”, and quotes Raymond Chandler: “when I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will stay split”.
Dr John Doherty
Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire
• At first I decided to ignore simply David Roberts’ advice. Then I decided simply to ignore it. Finally I decided to simply ignore it, because that sounded much better. There’s no law against splitting infinitives. It really is time for us to get over this. Hoping to… never… have to hear about it again.
Eddy York
Eddleston, Scottish Borders
• How I agree with David Roberts. This is the third time I have written to the Guardian about the modern habit of splitting the infinitive with one, two or even three adverbs. In fact I cannot remember when I last saw an infinitive in the Guardian that was not split. The rule of the infinitive was hammered home to me by my mother and my English teacher. I shudder and feel betrayed every time I see that misplaced adverb and the torn-apart infinitive.
Barbara Benedict
London
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