Split infinitives

Split infinitives are one of those pesky grammatical ideas that many people have heard of and have a vague idea will cause a loss of marks in an essay or undergraduate dissertation, yet aren't really able to define or avoid. In fact, to define 'split infinitive' is much easier than you might think, and the idea that they are grammatically 'wrong' is a myth, though you may still want to edit them out to be on the safe side when essay editing or proofreading, particularly in coursework or marked essays.