Posted by Jim Lindgren:
Harvard Psychologist Pinker on Split Verbs.
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_01_18-2009_01_24.shtml#1232615453
Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, who is the chairman of the usage
panel of The American Heritage Dictionary, quotes me in an op-ed in
today's New York Times on the topic of split verbs, which I discussed
[1]below.
Pinker [2]writes:
Oaf of Office
On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the Flubber Hall of
Fame when he administered the presidential oath of office
apparently without notes. Instead of having Barack Obama �solemnly
swear that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the
United States,� Chief Justice Roberts had him �solemnly swear that
I will execute the office of president to the United States
faithfully.� When Mr. Obama paused after �execute,� the chief
justice prompted him to continue with �faithfully the office of
president of the United States.� (To ensure that the president was
properly sworn in, the chief justice re-administered the oath
Wednesday evening.)
How could a famous stickler for grammar have bungled that 35-word
passage, among the best-known words in the Constitution? Conspiracy
theorists and connoisseurs of Freudian slips have surmised that it
was unconscious retaliation for Senator Obama�s vote against the
chief justice�s confirmation in 2005. But a simpler explanation is
that the wayward adverb in the passage is blowback from Chief
Justice Roberts�s habit of grammatical niggling.
Language pedants hew to an oral tradition of shibboleths that have
no basis in logic or style, that have been defied by great writers
for centuries, and that have been disavowed by every thoughtful
usage manual. Nonetheless, they refuse to go away, perpetuated by
the Gotcha! Gang and meekly obeyed by insecure writers. . . .
Though the ungrammaticality of split verbs is an urban legend, it
found its way into The Texas Law Review Manual on Style, which is
the arbiter of usage for many law review journals. James Lindgren,
a critic of the manual, has found that many lawyers have
�internalized the bogus rule so that they actually believe that a
split verb should be avoided,� adding, �The Invasion of the Body
Snatchers has succeeded so well that many can no longer distinguish
alien speech from native speech.�
References
1. http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_01_18-2009_01_24.shtml#1232599806
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/opinion/22pinker.html?_r=1&hp
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