A split infinitive is a phenomenon of the English language when an adverb or adverbial phrase is inserted between "to" and a verb in its infinitive form. One famous example is from the science fiction series Star Trek: "To boldly go where no man has gone before." Here, the infinitive verb form of "go" is "to go", and the adverb "boldly" has been inserted, creating a split infinitive. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some grammatical authorities argued that split infinitives should not be allowed in English, by an analogy with Latin, where they are usually impossible. Most authorities from the last 100 years, however, agree that this rule was mistaken, and indeed that splitting an infinitive can sometimes reduce ambiguity.

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Today's selected anniversaries:

1066 William the Conqueror and his invasion fleet of around 600 ships and an army of 7000 reached England and landed at Pevensey, Sussex. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_the_Conqueror)

1542 Portuguese explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the first European to travel the California coast, landed on what is now San Diego. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Rodriguez_Cabrillo)

1820 The tomato was publicly proved safe when Robert Johnson ate a bushel of tomatoes outside a courthouse in Salem, Massachusetts. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/tomato)

1994 The M/S Estonia, a ferry commuting between Tallinn, Estonia and Stockholm, Sweden, sank. 852 people drowned or were frozen to death in the cold water in one of the worst maritime accidents on the Baltic Sea. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M/S_Estonia)

Wikiquote of the day:

"Those who think they know it all are very annoying to those of us who do." ~ Anonymous