Split Infinitives happen when you put an adverb between to and a verb, for example:

She used to secretly admire him.

You have to really watch him.

What’s wrong with split infinitives?

Some people believe that split infinitives are grammatically incorrect and should be avoided at all costs. They would rewrite these sentences as:

She used secretly to admire him.

You really have to watch him.

But there’s no real justification for their objection, which is based on comparisons with the structure of Latin. People have been splitting infinitives for centuries, especially in spoken English, and avoiding a split infinitive can sound clumsy. It can also change the emphasis of what’s being said. The sentence:

You really have to watch him. (ie. ‘It’s important that you watch him’)

doesn’t have quite the same meaning as:

You have to really watch him. (ie. ‘You have to watch him very closely’)

To split or not to split?

The ‘rule’ against splitting infinitives isn’t followed as strictly today as it used to be. Nevertheless, some people do object very strongly to them. As a result, it’s safest to avoid split infinitives in formal writing, unless the alternative wording seems very clumsy or would alter the meaning of your sentence.

Determiners are small words that go in front of nouns (also known as “noun modifiers”). The main purpose of determiners is to “mark” a noun, or to “determine” its context. Determiners identify which person or thing a sentence is describing. Sometimes, determiners “determine” if the noun/pronoun is definite or indefinite. Determiners can also describe to whom the noun belongs, or how many of the noun there are.

The Grammar of Determiners

In English, determiners as a class include the following categories:

• Articles (a, an, the) - This is the most common type of determiner.

  The is the definite article used when describing a specific noun which is one of its kind.

  A and an are the indefinite articles, used when describing nonspecific nouns.

• Demonstratives (this, that, these, those, which, etc.)

• Possessive Determiners a.k.a. Possessive Pronouns (my, your, his, her, their, etc.)

• Quantifiers (few, some, many, all, any, every, each, no, not much, a little, etc.)

• Cardinal Numbers (one, two, sixty-six, ninety-nine)

  Numbers beginning with 100 require a determiner (i.e. a hundred ways).

In most Indo-European languages (e.g. English), determiners are separate words that precede nouns. However, in some languages, determiners come in the form of prefixes or suffixes added onto nouns, as is the case in Scandinavian languages.

For this reason, it is common for non-native English speakers to omit determiners.

Fixing Missing Determiners

Missing Determiner #1:

I bought banana at the market.

This phrase requires either an article (‘a/the’) before the noun, eg.

I bought a banana at the market.

Missing Determiner #2:

The manager talked about how to solve financial crisis.

This phrase requires either an article (‘a/the’), or changing the noun to the plural form. The manager talked about how to solve a financial crisis. or The manager talked about how to solve the financial crisis. or The manager talked about how to solve financial crises.

Why should you put a comma after prepositional phrases?

An introductory prepositional phrase sets the scene for the main phrase. It is often to do with time or location, e.g. In the evening or In 2022. An introductory prepositional phrase starts with a preposition (words like in, on, after, before). For short introductory phrases (fewer than four words), you can choose to add a comma or not. For longer phrases, you should always use a comma.

Short prepositional phrase:

• Correct: In the Spring let’s go to Mexico.

• Correct: In the Spring, let’s go to Mexico.

Longer phrase:

• Correct: On the first day of his holiday, Jimmy wanted to go sailing.

• Incorrect: On the first day of his holiday Jimmy wanted to go sailing.

Note: you might also find these prepositional phrases in the middle of sentences after a conjunction, e.g. He went to bed, and in the morning, he wanted to go sailing. For these, you should follow the same rules as if they came at the beginning of a sentence.

When can you exclude 'that' from a sentence?

There are a number of instances in English where it is possible and even desirable to omit the word that.

• that as conjunction with reporting verbs (like learn, discover, find out, know, feel, etc.): I discovered (that) Jose had borrowed my scooter without my permission.

• after the more common reporting verbs, (e.g. say, tell) it is also entirely natural to omit that in informal speech: I told her (that) I'd be back by ten o'clock but she said she needed me here earlier.

• after certain verbs (e.g. reply, shout) that cannot be omitted and it is not normally dropped after nouns: The CEO informed the staff that the company was going to close. Often, that can be removed from a sentence without affecting the overall meaning, especially when it has been used with a conditional, e.g. She told me that I could go to the party vs. She told me I could go to the party.

Sometimes, however, you can change or lose the meaning by removing that. For example, I heard that you snore = Person A snores, and Person B has told Person C about it, whereas I heard you snore = Person A snores and Person B has heard them doing it.

Consider whether your use of 'that' is necessary for understanding time, object or person. If not, you can probably cut it.

Do I need a comma after a subordinate clause?

The short answer is "yes" ... if the subordinate clause comes at the beginning of the sentence.

A subordinate clause adds context to a sentence. It is not a proper sentence on its own.

A subordinate clause starts with a subordinate conjunction. Common subordinate conjunctions are: after, although, as, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order that, once, provided that, rather than, since, so that, than, that, though, unless, until, when, whenever, where, whereas, wherever, whether, while, and why. In the following sentences, we have put the subordinate clauses in bold.

• Lisa chose to visit the High Court since she's a law major.

• Since Lisa is a law major, she chose to visit the High Court.

• If you go to the conservatorium, you will learn something about music.

• You will learn something about music if you go to the conservatorium.

From these examples, you can see that subordinate clauses can either come at the beginning or end of a sentence. When subordinate clauses come at the end of the sentence, you don't use a comma. However, when a subordinate clause comes at the beginning of the sentence, you set it off with a comma.

What is a Comma Splice?

A comma splice is a grammatical error and a misuse of the comma. It occurs when two main (or independent) clauses are incorrectly combined using only a comma.

Two independent clauses cannot be joined without a proper conjunction or without proper punctuation.

Comma Splice Examples

• We went to the store, we bought apples.

  • This example has two independent clauses, one on each side of the comma. This sentence needs a comma with a conjunction or a semicolon to be grammatically correct.

• The cat needs food, he is hungry.

  • Again, this example has two independent clauses. In order to be grammatically correct, this sentence needs to be split into two or a conjunction needs to be added.

A comma splice also creates a run-on sentence.

How to Fix a Comma Splice

Comma splices are not good grammar. Therefore, they should be corrected in any type of writing, be it formal, informal, essays, etc.

Let’s use the above example to show how to fix comma splices.

There are three ways to fix a comma splice.

1. Create two independent clauses.

   1. Incorrect: We went to the store, we bought apples.

   2. Correct: We went to the store. We bought apples.

2. Change the comma to a semicolon.

   1. Incorrect: We went to the store, we bought apples.

   2. Correct: We went to the store; we bought apples.

3. Leave the comma and add a conjunction.

   1. Incorrect: We went to the store, we bought apples.

   2. Correct: We went to the store, and we bought apples.

      This kind of conjunction is known as a coordination conjunction.

Note: Only use a semicolon if the sentences are of equal length and of equal importance.