Star Trek Novels

Star Trek Novels

WhatÂ’s a split infinitive, then? Sounds a bit painful, in a vaguely science-fiction kind of way.

Speakers of non-English European languages will know what an infinitive is. ItÂ’s a verb in its pure, unaltered form. For example:

French: aller
English: to go

French: chanter
English to sing

See the difference there? The French infinitive is one word, the English is two: “to” + “the verb”. In French and other languages, notably Latin, it’s impossible to split the infinitive; it’s either the infinitive form or it isn’t. That’s where the problem lies with English, because it is *possible* to split the infinitive.

Traditionalists prefer to think of the "to" and the "verb" as joined in an invisible embrace. And they shake with anger at the thought of anything coming between the two.

But why, really, should it matter? English is not Latin and itÂ’s not French. One of the reasons English has flourished over any of its European cousins is its capacity to evolve, to change its shape to better serve its users and to not get too obsessed with tradition taking precedence over being understood.

In other words, take it easy. Often a split infinitive will just sound better and more powerful than its more tradition-bound twin:

The most famous example of the form IÂ’m talking about is one you will all know. It was how James Tiberius Kirk described his five-year mission in the classic series, "Star Trek":

“To boldly go where no man has gone before!”

He didn’t say “To go boldly”. But just imagine if he had…

“To explore strange new worlds… To seek out new life and new civilizations… To go boldly where no man has gone before!”

Hhmmm, that just sounds weak.

WhatÂ’s more, splitting the infinitive can make the meaning of what you want to say more clear. Compare the following:

- He told her kindly to stop talking in class
- He told her to kindly stop talking in class

In the first example, we’re not really sure of the tone of voice. Did he tell her to stop talking in a kindly way (”Come on now, be good and stop talking, eh?”), or did he say “kindly stop talking”, which sounds much more terse and much less, well... kind.

The second example makes it clear. He wasn’t talking to her in a kindly way. He was basically saying “shut up!”

So what do you do? Go with a non-split infinitive that follows tradition but which may occasionally sound unnatural or even make your meaning slightly obscure, or choose something that flows better but which runs the risk of having the reader think (wrongly) youÂ’re making a grammatical error?

I tend to just go with what sounds best to my ear and maybe thatÂ’s what you should do, too. Read aloud what youÂ’ve written (or whisper aloud, if youÂ’re in an office and youÂ’re worried people might think youÂ’re a freak). Listening to the words youÂ’ve written will help you decide whether itÂ’s okay or not.

If you still canÂ’t work out whether to split or not to split, why not re-work the whole sentence and avoid the problem completely?

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What is the best star trek novel?

whats it about?

There are so many.
I'm working through the "Time To..." ones. A time to be born, a time to die etc. They cover Next Gen between Insurrection and Nemesis.
But I love the Captains' table books most. They are all stand alone stories from all the captains. The idea is this bar that only captains can get into that exists everywhere and nowhere where drinks are paid for with stories. I know they've written them for Pike, Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway and Calhoun. I really like Picard's tale of a treasure hunt of sorts and Sisko's encounter with something known as the Mist. Calhoun is actually from the book series Excalibur which is really good too.

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Related posts:

1. Star Trek Canon Novels
2. Star Trek DVD
3. Star Trek The Original Series
4. Star Trek Enterprise Series
5. Star Trek T Pol

Tagged with: books • dc • european languages • french infinitive • James Tiberius Kirk • Series Star Trek • split infinitive • Star Trek Novels • star trek novels 2010 • star trek novels chronology • star trek novels list • star trek novels reading order • star trek novels timeline • star-trek • startrek • Strange New Worlds • trek • Trek Star • wars

Filed under: Star Trek Books

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