Page 1 of 1
split infinitives
Posted: Thu Aug 19, 2010 6:43 pm
by Tukanja
The load message is sent primarily to enable transit station to know in advance the load which continues on the same aircraft.
My version
The load message should be sent to primarily enable the transit station to in advance know the load which continues on the same aircraft.
Do you like split infinitives or not?
Re: split infinitives
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 5:04 am
by Joe
Splitting the infinitive in your example serves no purpose whatsoever and in this case is not idiomatic. It results in a clumsy sentence in which the sense is obscure, and may even be distorted.
There is little wrong with the original sentence, though (if I understand correctly) I would venture to suggest the following as an alternative:
The load message is sent primarily to enable
the transit station to know in advance
which loads continue on the same aircraft.
Re: split infinitives
Posted: Tue Aug 24, 2010 3:08 pm
by Tukanja
The sentence
The load message is sent to primarily enable the transit station to in advance know which load continues on the same aircraft.
still doesn't seem that clumsy to me. Could be because of some wine..
Could be clear with time.