Boris ain’t no Dr Johnson

Inspired by Boris’s recent oration, I was going to compose an epigram in praise of his prose, a dirty limerick in honour of his hobbies and a white paper for the promise of his politics. That was until I came across the unthinkable: Boris Johnson split the infinitive. He’ll probably try and defend himself: the Mayor of London can’t proof read every Greater London Press Release – and Greater London isn’t even really London – and so it’s unfair to hold him directly responsible. But, it happened on his watch.

Last week’s press release “Mayor tightens grip on disruptive roadworks in London” contained not one but two horribly dismembered infinitives, namely: “to now use” and  “to properly charge”.

You might argue, if you were feeling contrary, that if Defoe, Eliot or James counted among its perpetrators, splitting the infinitive is hardly a cardinal sin. What really stings, however, is that one of the posited – though never substantiated – objections to the split infinitive is in honour of Latin syntax.