I generally don't split infinitives in English. There's one case that I'm stuck on, though, because I'm not sure if there's another way to indicate the difference I have in mind: "not to do X" versus "to not do X." The former implies that X is not done, but possibly through inattention or accident; the latter, a usage borrowed mostly from the speech habits of computer scientists, implies that the not doing of X is a primary objective of one's actions.
Is there a more correct way to say this? It feels clunky every time I say it.
(What brought this to mind was a news article about the Clintons' married life, where they say that Mr. Clinton "has told friends that his No. 1 priority is not to cause her any trouble." When I read that, it seemed that "not" was modifying "is" rather than "cause," which would suggest that his next line ought to be "It's to make sure other people do! Wahahahaha!")
May 23 2006, 22:50:40 UTC 9 years ago
In normal, casual speech, if I were to say "[Clinton] has told friends that his no. 1 priority is not to cause her any trouble" I would have phrased it that way so I could finish with with "but rather to go on a speaking tour" (or some other clause).
English is chock-full of lazy scoping like that. Take this sentence: "I don't think English is a silly language.". In usage, this tends to mean 'the speaker has a specific belief that English is not a silly language'.
Whereas if we parse the word sequence 'not+verb' as 'verb [negated]' as most other 'not+verb' sequences are parsed, the meaning that comes out would be more like 'the speaker lacks conviction regarding English being a silly language'.
:(
</soapbox>
To address the question you actually asked, I agree with
May 23 2006, 22:57:01 UTC 9 years ago
The difference would be that in the first case, emphasis is implicitly on silly (the most weakly-bound object is the most mutable, and thus an implicit comparative), whereas if the speaker explicitly emphasizes 'think,' it implies that this is a subjective opinion and others may disagree.