Are Grammar Rules Dead? Uncover the Shocking Truth About Modern Grammar Guidelines!
Guidelines Often Mistaken for Grammar Rules
Let’s look at a few guidelines that are widely misunderstood as rules. Warning: proceed with caution when you flout these guidelines. As mentioned, grammar is a consensus, so there are still a lot of people who believe these are hard-and-fast rules. In fact, some of these guidelines may have once been grammar rules.
Split Infinitives: This myth states that you should not split an infinitive with an adverb. An infinitive is a basic form of a verb. If the verb is go, then the infinitive is to go. The guideline against splitting infinitives says that we shouldn’t insert the adverb between the words to and go. We would say “to go boldly” instead of “to boldly go.” But this isn’t a rule at all, so split your infinitives whenever it makes sense to do so.
