to idly while lazing on a Sunday afternoon split one's infinitives

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#176514 - 04/30/08 08:40 PM to idly while lazing on a Sunday afternoon split one's infinitives
zmjezhd zmjezhd veteran Registered: 08/13/05 Posts: 1525 Loc: R'lyeh	I was perusing the Wikipedia article on the whole split-infinitive mythos, and I just wanted to share something that two great writers, of fiction and linguistics respectively, had to say: Quote: By the way, would you convey my compliments to the purist who reads your proofs and tell him or her that I write in a sort of broken-down patois which is something like the way a Swiss-waiter talks, and that when I split an infinitive, God damn it, I split it so it will remain split, and when I interrupt the velvety smoothness of my more or less literate syntax with a few sudden words of barroom vernacular, this is done with the eyes wide open and the mind relaxed and attentive. The method may not be perfect, but it is all I have. (Raymond Chandler to an editor at The Atlantic Monthly.) and Quote: To is no more an essential part of an infinitive than the definite article is an essential part of a nominative, and no one would think of calling the good man a split nominative. (Otto Jespersen. (1905) Growth and Structure of the English Language.)
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#176516 - 04/30/08 09:25 PM Re: to idly while lazing on a Sunday afternoon split one's infinitives [Re: zmjezhd]
The Pook The Pook addict Registered: 02/20/08 Posts: 468 Loc: Tasmania	Originally Posted By: zmjezhd Quote: To is no more an essential part of an infinitive than the definite article is an essential part of a nominative, and no one would think of calling the good man a split nominative. (Otto Jespersen. (1905) Growth and Structure of the English Language.) That's possibly the best anti-prescriptivist argument on the issue of split infinitives I've seen. Certainly shows up the selective nature of prescriptive purism.
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#176523 - 05/01/08 03:20 AM Re: to idly while lazing on a Sunday afternoon split one's infinitives [Re: The Pook]
latishya latishya member Registered: 11/24/07 Posts: 109	Language Log boldly going where many have gone before. Edited by latishya (05/01/08 03:22 AM)
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#176524 - 05/01/08 05:10 AM Re: to idly while lazing on a Sunday afternoon split one's infinitives [Re: zmjezhd]
BranShea BranShea Pooh-Bah Registered: 06/23/06 Posts: 1856 Loc: Netherlands, the Hague	> The method may not be perfect, but it is all I have. (Raymond Chandler to an editor at The Atlantic Monthly.) Whatever his methods; they are perfect. Not only his plots, also his language. Always a great pleasure to read. Of course (to kick-in the open door) what matters most in all art is : "does it work?" Certainly not by blindly following prescriptions, but by minding them as well as finding twists and quirks where needed.
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