Time travel always seemed to me a silly idea — at least as it’s portrayed in movies and on TV. Sure, it’s fun to ponder whether a guy can be his own grandpa. But time-travel movies always fall apart ...

Now that you have freed prepositions to bravely be sentence endings, you might clarify Miss Thistlebottom’s split infinitive rule. — Pam Rider, East Village, San Diego Joining the preposition rule in ...

“O dear Miss Mutch, leave down your crutch.” He cried in thoughtless terror. Short shrift she gave. Above his grave: HERE ...

DEAR RICHARD: Now retired from 50 years of college teaching and having no more student papers to grade and critique, I address your recent U-T column. I so enjoy, appreciate, and support your language ...

Reader Don in Los Angeles County wrote recently with a question about a well-known grammar issue called a “split infinitive.” “I learned about them 50 years ago and I am somewhat sensitive about them ...

A reader asked me whether splitting infinitives is grammatically correct. Most modern authorities say it is, but I recommend that you don’t spilt infinitives because it may irritate judges who were ...

A letter comes to hand from Kevin MacArthur of Fredericksburg, Va. He has noticed an increased frequency in split infinitives and urges me forthrightly to denounce the trend. He writes: "What is most ...

TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online ...