Which of these sentences make most sense?

Question

Hi, I have a sentence which I am not sure about.

This is the way I have it written currently.

''''They were my blades, my shaving blades, from the days when I used to actually care about my appearance.''''

or

''''They were my blades, my shaving blades, from the days when I actually used to care about my appearance.''''

Not much of a difference but just looking for an opinion.

KJinCali79 · Accepted Answer

There is not a big difference, except that "used to actually care" contains a split infinitive. Some purists would argue that the first sentence, for that reason, should be avoided; and thus, the second sentence is preferred. However, there is not a lot of agreement in the debate about whether split inifinitives are permissible.

To me there is a subtle distinction of emphasis, regardless of your views on whether "used to + verb" should be kept together from a grammactical perspective. For example, imagine "actually" as italicized or otherwise emphasized in speech pattern:
"...from the days when I used to actually care about my appearance."
-- This is a slight de-emphasis on the past habit (used to) aspect, and a slight emphasis on the act of caring
"... from the days when I actually used to care about my appearance.''
-- This is a slight emphasis on the past habit (used to) of caring as a whole.

Grammarfreak · Answer

ryansamturner Hi, I have a sentence which I am not sure about. This is the way I have it written currently.''''They were my blades, my shaving blades, from the days when I used to actually care about my appearance.'or'They were my blades, my shaving blades, from the days when I actually used to care about my appearance.''''Not much of a difference but just looking for an opinion.

There is no syntactic advantage with this style of construction. s a matter of fact, from a fluency perspective, it sounds rather odd to my ear. If these blade are true fact, then, I would personally.use the present [ are ] and write it this way:
These are the shaving blades that I actually used to maintain my appearance in the younger days.

KJinCali79 · Answer

grammarfreakThese are the shaving blades that I actually used to maintain my appearance in the younger days.

This sentence changes the entire meaning, Grammarfreak. You've made "use" the verb, rather than the construction "used to care." I think the original post was stating that when he used to care about his appearance those were his shaving blades, not the actual use of such.

Grammarfreak · Answer

I looked at it this way. The sentence '''They were my blades, my shaving blades, from the days when I used to actually care about my appearance.'''' intrinsically has a problem with "used to" and the "when " clause together in my opinion. When - connotes a point in time, during which I used them to shave my face, and that is interpreted as " I cared about my appearance ". You are correct that I used " use " as a main verb. What if I reworded this way to convey the same meaning: These are the shaving blades from days past, when I actually used to care about how I looked ( cared about my appearance).

Which of these sentences make most sense?

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