The Surprising Truth About Split Infinitives That Grammar Gurus Don’t Want You to Know
We truly want to understand English grammar.
Note that this sentence sounds clearer, but we’ve changed the meaning. In the original example sentence, the adverb truly modified the phrase to understand. Here, it modifies want. When splitting infinitives, we need to make sure the word doing the splitting is modifying the right words in the sentence.
Let’s rewrite the sentence while keeping the meaning intact:
We want to master English grammar.
Here, the split infinitive to truly understand is replaced with stronger, more precise wording. Instead of truly understanding English grammar, we want to master it! This sentence is far clearer than the original. It has more punch, it doesn’t include a (somewhat questionable) split infinitive, and it communicates the exact same idea.
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