to ever hang, or ever to hang?

[kenny]

The quote below is from a story on NPR.com.
Is this a split infinitive?

"Hurricane Ida was causing catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding across sections of southern Louisiana as it came ashore Sunday as one of the strongest storms to ever hit the U.S."

If so, with even NPR doing it, are the grammar rules of my day just dissolving?

 

[yssie]

“Ever to hit”.
It’s awkward as written.
Just my humble opinion.

 

[kenny]

“Ever to hit”.
It’s awkward as written.
Just my humble opinion.

I hear you.

But whom, when used correctly, also sounds awkward.
I suspect this is only because we are so accustomed to hearing the incorrect 'who' in its place.

 

[yssie]

I hear you.

But whom, when used correctly, also sounds awkward.
I suspect this is only because we are so accustomed to hearing the incorrect 'who' in its place.

Agree that formalities like “whom” sound awkward when said out loud, but… They do read more fluidly.
I think venues should hold written communications to higher standards than verbal.
Again JMH(umble)O.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Agree that formalities like “whom” sound awkward when said out loud, but… They do read more fluidly.
I think venues should hold written communications to higher standards than verbal.
Again JMH(umble)O.

Post of the decade !

I might not be able to spell and i hack away on my phone to post on line....remembering no one is paying for my contribution- but i can tell when something im reading is baddly worded and today's news is full of it

Who are these writers who churn out this stuff ? presumably they have had some sort of fornal training like a junolism degree which must surley include English papers ??

I know i was still at high school when our very respected local newspaper let go off its proof readers so its been a downward slide in standards for a long while now

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

I was always taught that the split infinitive was a grammatical construct to best be avoided but that it is not actually a hard and fast rule.

Split Infinitive – Usage, Rules and Examples

Every language has specific parts of speech that help create understandable speech and writing patterns. Grammatical terms are a foundation for learning the English language, and knowing what order to place words in helps language

grammarist.com

Split infinitives: the English ‘rule’ that refuses to quietly die | Letters

Letters: Salley Vickers, Angelica Goodden, John Doherty, Eddy York and Barbara Benedict weigh in on an eternal linguistic debate

www.theguardian.com

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

The quote below is from a story on NPR.com.
Is this a split infinitive?

"Hurricane Ida was causing catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds and flash flooding across sections of southern Louisiana as it came ashore Sunday as one of the strongest storms to ever hit the U.S."

If so, with even NPR doing it, are the grammar rules of my day just dissolving?

btw is ever to hit the right answer ?

 

[AllAboardTheBlingTrain]

btw is ever to hit the right answer ?

yes, I think it would be - it would imply that the storm was one of the strongest ones experienced in the US since recorded history (sounds dramatic when I put it that way). In this case though I don't think it changes the meaning to have the adverb in the split position or before the infinitive. Even more emphasis could have been accorded if they phrased it as "...strongest storms to hit the U.S., ever."

As a general question, do others have a problem with splitting verb phrases as well as infinitives? Or is it particularly splitting the infinitive that irks you? Personally, I think splitting verb phrases aids flow.

 

[Lookinagain]

I think it depends. Sometimes splitting the infinitive just sounds odd to me, and sometimes it doesn't. If I were writing

as one of the strongest storms to ever hit the U.S."

I would have written it as "ever to hit the U.S." But if I were writing this sentence from the article above

Do you have to so loudly play?

I would definitely split the infinitive as it just sounds better to my ear.

Splitting verb phrases doesn't tend to bother me, and I actually don't notice it as often as I notice splitting the infinitive.

And I use "whom" when writing, but not while speaking.

are the grammar rules of my day just dissolving?

yes, to some degree they are.

We should start a thread on incorrect use of words that grate on our ears. And just to be honest, I'm sure that my grammar isn't perfect either, especially when speaking. Or writing casually. I tend to be more mindful when writing if it is a work communication.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

i dropped English in my last year of high school so I'll bow out of this discussion now

 

[lilmosun]

i dropped English in my last year of high school so I'll bow out of this discussion now

I finished all my English courses in high school and my reaction was "tough crowd".

P.S. Going forward, everyone can just skip over my posts as I never bother to proof before posting.