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Meaning of "split infinitive" in the English dictionary

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DICTIONARY
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PRONUNCIATION OF SPLIT INFINITIVE

split infinitive play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF SPLIT INFINITIVE

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Split infinitive is a noun.
A noun is a type of word the meaning of which determines reality. Nouns provide the names for all things: people, objects, sensations, feelings, etc.

WHAT DOES SPLIT INFINITIVE MEAN IN ENGLISH?

Split infinitive

In the English language, a split infinitive or cleft infinitive is a grammatical construction in the which a word or phrase divides the to and the bare infinitive of the to form of the infinitive verb. Usually, it is an adverb or adverbial phrase that comes between to and the verb. A well-known example occurs in the opening sequence of the Star Trek television series: to boldly go where no man has gone before; the adverb boldly splits the infinitive to go. More rarely, more than one word splits the infinitive in a compound split infinitive, as in: The population is expected to more than double in the next ten years. As the split infinitive became more common in the 19th century, some grammatical authorities sought to introduce a prescriptive rule against it. The construction is still the subject of disagreement among English speakers as to whether it is grammatically correct or good style: "No...

Definition of split infinitive in the English dictionary

The definition of split infinitive in the dictionary is an infinitive used with another word between to and the verb itself, as in I want to really finish it this time.

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE SPLIT INFINITIVE

split brain
split cane
split decision
split ends
split hairs
split keyboarding
split one´s sides
split pea
split peas
split personality
split pin
split ring
split run
split screen
split second
split shift
split skirt
split the difference
split ticket
split tin

WORDS THAT END LIKE SPLIT INFINITIVE

active
additive
aperitive
capacitive
case-sensitive
cognitive
competitive
definitive
fugitive
HIV-positive
insensitive
intransitive
intuitive
nutritive
positive
primitive
prohibitive
punitive
repetitive
sensitive
time-sensitive

Synonyms and antonyms of split infinitive in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

Translation of «split infinitive» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF SPLIT INFINITIVE

Find out the translation of split infinitive to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of split infinitive from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «split infinitive» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

分裂不定式
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

infinitivo partido
570 millions of speakers

English

split infinitive
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

विभाजन के साधारण
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

صيغة المصدر الانقسام
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

сплит инфинитив
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

infinitivo divisão
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

অনির্ধারিত বিভক্ত
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

infinitif fendu
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Split infinitive
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

Split Infinitiv
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

スプリット不定詞
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

분할 부정사
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Pamisah infinitive
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

chia infinitive
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

முடிவிலா பிளவு
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

अविभाज्य विभाजन
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

Mastar bölme
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

infinito diviso
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

Podział bezokolicznik
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

спліт інфінітив
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

infinitiv divizat
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

διάσπαση απαρέμφατο
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

split infinitief
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

split infinitiv
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

split infinitiv
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of split infinitive

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «SPLIT INFINITIVE»

The term «split infinitive» is normally little used and occupies the 119.840 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Little used
44
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «split infinitive» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of split infinitive
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «split infinitive».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «SPLIT INFINITIVE» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «split infinitive» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «split infinitive» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about split infinitive

EXAMPLES

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «SPLIT INFINITIVE»

Discover the use of split infinitive in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to split infinitive and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Split Infinitive: Poems and Songs
Split. Infinitive. your beauty is the stars falling ever so infrequently burning away so silent and calm your light upon my hands but the late sky makes all too dark to distinguish your body is the morning into which the stars are swallowed and ...
Anna-Lynne Williams, 2003
2
An Historical Syntax of the English Language
Wrongly assuming that to is an integral part of the infinitive, grammarians attached the labels 'cleft infinitive' and 'split infinitive' to this syntactical tmesis, the second of which is now generally used. The earliest examples of this usage ...
F. Th Visser, 1963
3
Corpus Linguistics: Refinements and Reassessments
On the use of split infinitives in English Javier Calle-Martín and Antonio Miranda- García University of Málaga, Spain Abstract A split infinitive construction denotes a particular type of syntactic tmesis in which a word or phrase, especially an ...
Antoinette Renouf, Andrew Kehoe, 2009
4
Grammar: A Student's Guide
For interest Contemplate for a moment, if you will, the horror (in some people's view) of the English 'split' infinitive. A split infinitive is an infinitive form of a verb whose to has been separated from the verb by some other word (or even a whole  ...
James R. Hurford, 1994
5
Style and Ethics of Communication in Science and Engineering
A split infinitive occurs when a word or phrase separates the “to” and its complement. A famous split infinitive in recent years comes from the aforementioned quote from Star Trek: “To boldly go where no man has gone before,” which we could ...
Jay Dowell Humphrey, Jeffrey W. Holmes, 2009
6
Split Infinitive
Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.
Larrie Benton Zacharie, 2012
7
Garner's Modern American Usage
See irregular verbs. Language-Change Index ✳splitted for past-tense split: Stage 1 Split Infinitives. A. Generally. H.W. Fowler divided the English-speaking world into five classes: (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2)  ...
Bryan Garner, 2009
8
The Elements of Style
The Elements of Style is a classic work which is intended for use in English courses in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature.
William Strunk, 2007
9
Writing for Broadcast Journalists
The split infinitive Let's start with the infamous split infinitive. I have to tentatively put my cards on the table by using a split infinitive and declaring that the usage doesn't worry me. People split infinitives in conversation all the time. I think the ...
Rick Thompson, 2004
10
The Study of Language
This is an example of a split infinitive. Captain Kirk's teacher might have expected him to say To go boldly or Boldly to go, so that the adverb didn't split the infinitive. If Captain Kirk had been a Roman space traveler, speaking Latin, he would ...
George Yule, 2010

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «SPLIT INFINITIVE»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term split infinitive is used in the context of the following news items.
1
The no-split-infinitives rule is dud advice on grammar
I recently cited a couple of examples of constructions where the same magazine had gone to great lengths to avoid using a split infinitive. This is another ... «The Times, Jul 15»
2
A Word, Please: There is no rule against splitting infinitives
The dreaded "split infinitive" is a famous grammatical error. ... The infinitive is the form of the verb that's not "inflected" — altered to go with a specific subject or ... «Huntington Beach Independent, Jun 15»
3
Zombie Grammar Rules: How to Handle the Walking Dead of …
A half-rotted book of grammar rules bares its sharp teeth, its dead, white fingers reaching for you as images of bloody split infinitives spill from its yellowed pages ... «The Content Standard by Skyword, May 15»
4
To split infinitives or not? The Independent's John Rentoul and The …
Oliver Kamm, author of a new, convention-busting guide to English usage, challenges John Rentoul, collator of the 'The Banned List', to split an infinitive – and ... «The Independent, Feb 15»
5
A Word, Please: Grammar lists often forget to check the facts
For example, among the crimes on the BuzzFeed list is the dreaded split infinitive, which the site explains as follows: “The infinitive form of a verb is the form it ... «Glendale News Press, Jan 15»
6
Steven Pinker: 10 'grammar rules' it's OK to break (sometimes)
Among the many challenges of writing is dealing with rules of correct usage: whether to worry about split infinitives, fused participles, and the meanings of words ... «The Guardian, Aug 14»
7
Split infinitives
A recent comment thread brought up the old debate about split infinitives. I'm for them, in the sense that I think there is nothing inherently ungrammatical or even ... «Washington Post, Aug 14»
8
Um, There's A Mistake In Al Yankovic's Grammar-Themed 'Blurred …
It's the phrase 'to not drool', which is something called a split infinitive, where an adverb is placed between the particle 'to' and the verb itself, which in this case ... «Crushable, Jul 14»
9
Weird Al's grammar gaffe
In the rest of the song, Yankovic then claims he's going to try to "educate ya", but it's hard to take education advice from a guy who lands a split infinitive into a ... «Stuff.co.nz, Jul 14»
10
The 9 Most Controversial Rules In English Grammar
After all, many think that it sounds better not to split infinitives. More importantly, split infinitives may annoy readers who believe in the rule, and that's generally ... «Business Insider Australia, Mar 14»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Split infinitive [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/split-infinitive>. Apr 2024 ».
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