A reader writes:
“Fowler’s actual words on the topic are actually quite inspiring, and deserving of quotation in the Corner:
“The English-speaking world may be divided into (1) those who neither know nor care what a split infinitive is; (2) those who do not know, but care very much; (3) those who know and condemn; (4) those who know and approve; and (5) those who know and distinguish. Those who neither know nor care are the vast majority, and are a happy folk, to be envied by most of the minority classes.”
My source is of course the Second Edition, the definitive Fowler.