Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 10:23:12 -0500 (EST) From: Chris Browning <brownicm@prokyon.com> To: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> Cc: FreeBSD Chat <chat@FreeBSD.ORG>, Mikhail Teterin <mi@kot.ne.mediaone.net>, Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@critter.freebsd.dk>, Sheldon Hearn <axl@iafrica.com>, "Daniel C. Sobral" <dcs@newsguy.com>, Mark Ovens <marko@uk.radan.com> Subject: Re: English style (was: btokup().. patch to STYLE(9) (fwd)) Message-ID: <XFMail.990131102312.brownicm@prokyon.com> In-Reply-To: <19990130144416.Q8473@freebie.lemis.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
FWIW, the proscription against the split infinitive, if I recall correctly, was introduced sometime in the 19th century. "Scholars" who noted that it was disallowed in Latin felt that English would be improved thereby. Winston Churchill used 'em all the time and addressed the subject, calling it silly. On 30-Jan-99 Greg Lehey wrote: > On Saturday, 30 January 1999 at 4:07:10 +0000, Mark Ovens wrote: >> Greg Lehey wrote: >>> On Saturday, 30 January 1999 at 2:50:48 +0000, Mark Ovens wrote: >>>> Greg Lehey wrote: >>>>> [moved to chat] >>>>> >>>>> On Friday, 29 January 1999 at 23:50:37 +0900, Daniel C. Sobral wrote: >>>>>> Sheldon Hearn wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I didn't have a problem reading the sentence, even though you left out >>>>>>> required commas. The only thing that caused a problem was your use of >>>>>>> split infinitive. ;-) >>>>>> >>>>>> Split infinitive is a urban legend. It has *never* been outlawed in >>>>>> the english language, except for some crazy people in this century >>>>>> and, I think, later last century. >>>>> >>>> >>>> Not according to the OED. It is only in the most recent edition that the >>>> split infinitive is officially recognized as grammatically correct. >>>> >>>> The classic example is Star Trek; "To boldly go.....", until now it >>>> should have been "Boldly to go...", or "To go boldly....". >>>> >>>> Still, what the hell. We all speak American nowadays anyway ;-) >>> >>>> From an authority that the Americans are more likely to accept, I >>> quote the Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition, section 2.98 >>> (footnote): >>> >> >> "...that the Americans are more likely to accept..."?. I thought we were >> talking about English?. > > In English, a statement doesn't end with a question mark. But to > quote you: > >>>> Still, what the hell. We all speak American nowadays anyway ;-) > >>> The thirteenth edition of this manual included split infinitives >>> among the examples of ``errors and infelicities'' but tempered the >>> inclusion by adding, in parentheses, that they are ``debatable >>> `error' ''. The term has been dropped from the fourteenth edition >>> because the Press now regards the intelligent and discriminating use >>> of the construction as a legitimate form of expression and nothing >>> writers or editors need feel uneasy about. Indeed, it seems to us >>> that in many cases clarity ad naturalness of expression are best >>> served by a judicious splitting of infinitives. >> >> The official definition of the English language is the OED, so to >> quote an obviously American journal on a point of English grammar is >> inappropriate. > > It's not a journal, it's the definitive style guide for the US. > >> American-English and Australian-English are both derivatives of >> English (I object to the term "British-English"). If Americans have >> considered the split infinitive grammatically correct for many years >> then that is up to them, but in _English_ it has only recently >> become accepted as grammatically correct. > > What I quoted indicates that the situation is similar in the USA. The > thirteenth edition was published in 1982, the fourteenth in 1993. > > Greg > -- > See complete headers for address, home page and phone numbers > finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key > > To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org > with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message ---------------------------------- E-Mail: Chris Browning <brownicm@prokyon.com> Date: 31-Jan-99 Time: 10:17:51 Sent by XFMail 1.3 on FreeBSD 2.2.8 "if you believe in Nothing... honey, It believes in you." ---------------------------------- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?XFMail.990131102312.brownicm>