Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 06:36:44 +0200 From: Anatoly Vorobey <mellon@pobox.com> To: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: BSDCon East Message-ID: <20000413063644.54931@techunix.technion.ac.il>
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On Thu, Apr 13, 2000 at 04:36:06AM +0530, Rahul Siddharthan wrote: > > > In general, split infinitives are easier to understand, if > > > only because the adverb is directly adjacent to the verb it modifies, > > > and it is in the ordinary English position for modifiers: before. "To > > > boldly go" is clearer and even scans better than "Boldly to go" or "To > > > go boldly". Fowler would agree. > > > > *Does* Fowler agree? Me, I doubt it! > > Fowler gives the following example of a desirable split infinitive: > "Our object is to further cement trade relations". I wonder if this citation is from the original Fowler, or one of the later editions. It sounds remarkably modern, doesn't it? Fowler himself, of course, has been pushing up the daisies for more than half a century now; I've met a few people who were unaware of that and were thinking he is alive and working on a new version somewhere. Most folks' Fowler is Fowler revised by Gowers in 1965, which is not bad in itself, as the revision is superb, but it helps to be aware of that. Of course, this isn't half as bad as the deplorable situation with American dictionaries, what with all those Webster's around. ObLanguageWarsReference: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97mar/halpern/halpern.htm http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97mar/halpern/nunberg.htm -- Anatoly Vorobey, mellon@pobox.com http://pobox.com/~mellon/ "Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly" - G.K.Chesterton To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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