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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
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: 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 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.)
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067
old hand
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old hand
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 1,067 |
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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Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 390
enthusiast
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enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 390 |
Language Log boldly going where many have gone before.
Last edited by latishya; 05/01/08 07:22 AM.
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
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> 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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