i'm thinking that city-journal must have an editorial policy about
infinitives: the last several articles i've read on it -- including
this one -- have some pretty awkward evasions:


> The man who can bribe or call upon the
> illicit influence of his brother-in-law is
> not obliged passively to await a
> decree from the bureaucratic Olympus
>

how do you oblige someone passively?? but that's just an awkward
construction. this one is actually in danger of being misunderstood:


> They often devote their lives
> to trying to extract what they believe is
> their due from the authorities, whose
> failure to provide it is to them
> inexplicable, since no one appears
> personally to benefit from it.
>

if you don't read the sentence carefully, you may be getting a mental
picture of the author's friend waiting for someone to appear
personally -- to make a personal appearance -- at his house. yeesh.

take it from an english major: unlike that backwards, convoluted
italian language, english *does* have split infinitives: the
infinitive is already split for you, being made of two words.

--

barry
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