Thursday, January 22, 2009

The grammar myth monster rears its ugly head in the form of Chief Justice Roberts?

Is it really possible that Chief Justice Roberts bungled the oath of office on Tuesday because he couldn't bring himself to split an infinitive?!  Maybe.

Either way, I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that I will happily split infinitives on my blog.  

And as for the do-not-end-a-sentence-with-a-preposition "rule"?  The ending of sentences with prepositions will continue on.

In case you haven't noticed, this blog is written in English, not Latin.

Not that there is anything wrong with occasionally rewriting a sentence so that it does not end in a preposition.  It's a silly little game from which one can gain a small measure of satisfaction.

(P.S.  If you're still convinced that the writers of the Constitution got it wrong with their split infinitive, and Chief Justice Roberts's "inner copy editor" was right, read here.)