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An edited version of the letter below was published in The Australian of Thursday 24 August 2017. It was written in response to a letter which had taken one of the paper's journalists to task for splitting an infinitive. Underlined sections were deleted and bracketed ones inserted. The paper's heading was "Split on grammar".
Split infinitives and other grammatical nonsense
Steven Adams (Letters, 23/8) refers negatively to a split infinitive in the Inquirer article "Teaching the teachers" (22/8). While no doubt well-intentioned, his comment is inappropriate.
When descriptions of the grammar of English were first written, Latin had a privileged position in universities, the church and the law. Efforts were therefore made to apply the grammatical structures of Latin to English. Some worked OK, others not so much.
In Latin, as in many modern languages like French and German, the infinitive form of the verb is a single word so it cannot be "split". Often, to get the desired shade of meaning in English, an adverb needs to be deployed immediately before the main verb.
There are another two (other) of the so-called rules of traditional grammar which are also nonsense. These are the prohibitions against beginning sentences with conjunctions or ending them with prepositions.
The Inquirer piece did contain a grammatical error, or more generously a typo, but it did not relate to the use of the infinitive.
Garry Collins
Former president, Australian Association for the Teaching of English
 "Garry Collins, ETAQ Immediate Past President")
Author:Garry Collins, ETAQ Immediate Past President| Tags:General news |
Teacher event - external assessmentLatest news Due to the lockdown in south east Queensland, this event will now be fully online. Links for the sessions will be emailed to all registrants on FRIDAY afternoon; you will be able to access the materials from 9am on Saturday morning. If you registered for in-person attendance, your registration will be automatic... | ||||||||||||||||||
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Darling Downs Branch presents
The Darling Downs Branch will present Everything about the external exam on Wednesday 11 August from 3:30 to 5:30pm.
Join us for an afternoon to reconnect with English colleagues, engage in discussion and explore ideas on how to prepare students for the external exam. | ||||||||||||||||||
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Grammar PD term 3To assist attendees to develop their understandings of grammar in order to fully comprehend and to effectively teach the Australia Curriculum: English (AC:E), a further session will be held on Saturday 28 August at a venue (to be announced) in the metropolitan area. Download the flyer for further details. If your school is inter... | |||||||||||||||
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Student event - external assessmentFlexible modes of delivery will allow you and your students to engage with the materials at a time that suits you. Once again this event will be fully online to cater for all members and their students. This year the materials will come to you live in the afternoon of Wednesday 8 September. The recorded materials will th... | ||||||||||||||||||
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Pre-service teachers presentTownsville branch will present EMBEDDING INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES IN AUSTRALIAN SHORT STORY UNIT. by a group of pre-service teachers on Saturday 16 October 2021 from 9 am till 11 am. See the flyer for more details. Registrations will open on 1st September. | |||||||||||||||
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This is the first time I have been to an ETAQ conference and it was really sensational to get so much at all of the sessions.
ETAQ conferences always have sessions that make me excited to be a teacher.
I know that ETAQ conferences in the past have never disappointed - valuable, relevant, practical, inspiring so I came again.
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