Quote - What's them "infinitves", Sam? ;P

Other than that, not being a native English speaker myself,  but that doesn't mean you can't be interested in grammar and spelling. I do my best to do it correctly, although sometimes I fail, and fail miserably - most of the times because I'd heard a word and guessed how it was supposedly spelled. And then .. I was wrong. 

So - if anyone catches me making obvious mistakes like my old (and luckily eradicated from my fingers now) "becourse" - PLEASE let me know. Do not assume that I don't care. I do.

The article in question was unfortunately better than what most Danish newspapers spew on their websites. sigh I guess it's the rise of the texting generation moving from phones to proper keyboards... >_<

A simple definition of a split infinitive is, an action with the way the action is to be done, but with the way it's to be done first, as in:

horribly suffer
slowly crawl

and the most famous split infinitive of all (and one you'll definitely be familiar with)...

boldly go.

In most instances, a split infinitive sounds clumsy and - if broken down into component parts - doesn't make sense, because you're putting a modifier before an action.  How can you modify something which hasn't happened yet?

The chaps who compile the OED (Oxford English Dictionary), the nearest thing we have to an authority on the language, state that a split infinitive can be used but only if the alternative is more clumsy.  They always sound clumsy to my ears, in any case.  

Back to the Star Trek one...

Most people wouldn't object to it, mainly due to familiarity, but the sentence undermines itself from a dramatic tension point of view, as well as a good grammar aspect.  Consider, if the sentence went:

"To go boldly where no man/no one has gone before."  The speaker can place a dramatic emphasis on "boldly" with a slight pause after "go", whereas in the original it's just a throwaway word.  To write it out with the emphasis:

To go...boldly where no one has gone before.

Sounds much better, doesn't it?

In conclusion, I believe anyone who uses split infinitives should be mercilessly tortured.  Yes, that was another one and yes, it was a joke.  :)

Coppula eam se non posit acceptera jocularum.

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