Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

There used to be a rule around that infinitives must never be "split"—that is, that there must never be a word intervening between "to" and the verb.   By that rule, "to not go" and "to boldly go" are both wrong.

But the consensus nowadays, and for the past few decades, seems to be that that rule was always wrong.   The theory I've heard is that it's a holdover from when Latin was the lingua franca throughout Europe and the New World, and infinitives in Latin (and Greek too) are single words, so to imitate that...   Nowadays most word mavens mock the rule and feel free to break it.   So "I used to not like her" should be just fine.

I don't know whether it's my old don't-split-an-infinitive reflex, or something else, but in many cases—not all, by any means—I feel that not splitting an infinitive is ofter more euphonious, at least in writing...if "euphonious writing" isn't a contradiction.   But it isn't grammatically required by any rule I observe.   Nevertheless, in writing I'm about as likely to write "I used not to like..." as "I used to not like...", depending on the mood I'm after.