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mardi9b said:

… what is the accepted pronunciation of the word "often."

Grant and Martha split on this one. Grant pronounces the t, whereas for Martha, it rhymes with soften and follows the pattern of fasten, hasten, christen, chasten, listen, and moisten.

I, like Martha, keep the t silent. From my observation, the pronunciation is shifting to the spelled pronunciation as the years go by, and my formative years were much longer ago than average. I can't imagine how Martha might have been exposed to this nostalgic pronunciation.

But, to answer your question strictly, both pronunciations are accepted so you can say either /ē-thər/ or either /ī-thər/.

I was taken in by the rule against splitting infinitives, years ago, but eventually got over it. Nowadays if I don't split an infinitive (which is most of the time) it's because I think it's more euphonious that way. Only very rarely does it seem to me that an adverb between "to" and the verb is the right place, usually because anywhere else makes for some ambiguity.

Take this sentence for example:

I think to frequently do it is dangerous.

Usually I like to have the adverb just before "to do", or sometimes just after, but in this sentence either option changes the meaning. "Frequently I think..." and "I frequently think" is definitely not what I mean here. "I think frequently to do it..." could mean what I want, but it could also mean the same as "I frequently think to do it...". "...to do it frequently is dangerous" could mean what I want, but it might also mean "...to do it is frequently dangerous". The only completely unambiguous placement is splitting the infinitive.