Split Infinitives: Breaking an Outdated Rule to Write Better

The English language is full of supposed grammar rules that many of us learned in school. One persistent myth is that we should never split infinitives, that is, we should never put a word between to and its verb. But like many grammar “rules,” this one deserves to be broken.

First, let me explain what I’m talking about. In the phrase to boldly go, the adverb boldly splits the infinitive to go. For decades, some writers and editors have twisted themselves into knots to avoid such constructions, p...