Placement of adverb

Question

Hi everyone,I have another question regarding the placement of adverbs in a sentence.Which of the following are correct?1. The table would have seated 20 comfortably. (This, I think, almost without question, is correct.)2. The table would have comfortably seated 20. (This, I think, is the problematic one - something called split infinitives, if I did not recall wrongly.)3. The table would comfortably have seated 20. (This, to me, sounds a tad bit awkward, but seems grammatical.) Opinions, anyone?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

SJ88Which of the following are correct?

All correct. The second one is fine. It's not a split infinitive. That would have been to comfortably seat 20. I agree that the third one is awkward.

CJ

SJ88 · Answer

Hi CJ,

Thanks for your reply. Is it therefore wrong to say, "To comfortably seat 20, we shall have to move to another room"?

Thanks a bunch!
SJ

CalifJim · Answer

SJ88Is it therefore wrong to say, "To comfortably seat 20, we shall have to move to another room"?

Purists would say that it is wrong to say that. They would prefer:

To seat 20 comfortably, we shall have to ....

Nevertheless, unless the word between to and the verb is not or never or some other negative, splitting an infinitive is regarded as acceptable by most people. In my opinion, your particular sentence flows nicely as is, but I would object to: We preferred to not seat 20.

CJ

SJ88 · Answer

I understand. Thank you so much for your help! =)

Placement of adverb

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