“Cover to cover. It’s a noun phrase goldmine. Listen.” He pointed his fork. “You know the ‘split infinitive’? The thing you yelled at me for in 2005? Aarts points out that it’s been used by good writers since the 13th century. ‘To boldly go’ isn’t an error—it’s a style choice .”
Eleanor laughed. It was a rusty, surprised sound. All evening, they talked about aspect versus tense , the rise of the get -passive (“The window got broken”), and the curious life of the singular they . oxford modern english grammar by bas aarts
“Defective modals!” Tom raised his glass. “The best kind.” “Cover to cover
By dessert, she opened her own copy. “He writes that modal verbs are ‘defective’ because they lack non-finite forms,” she said, almost happily. “You know the ‘split infinitive’
“Alright,” she said, pouring more wine. “What about the passive voice? ‘Mistakes were made’?”
“ My team and I ,” Eleanor corrected, before she could stop herself. The ghost of old habits.
Tom grinned. “See, Aunt Ellie, that’s a ‘prescriptive rule.’ Bas Aarts would say my sentence is fine. ‘Me’ in subject coordination is common in informal English.”