ArcaMax

When I began writing this column in the autumn of 1992, an unpopular incumbent president was running for re-election, people were distressed about the economy, a war was raging in eastern Europe (Yugoslavia) and the Middle East was in turmoil. Hey, wait a minute!

OK, so some things haven't changed much since 1992, but my views on four issues of grammar and usage have.

-- Hopefully -- In 1992 I vehemently denounced the use of "hopefully" as a sentence-modifying adverb, e.g., "Hopefully, our team will win." That sentence, I explained, means that the team will win if they are hopeful about doing so. Why, I demanded, can't people simply write, "We hope our team will win."

You'll be happy to know that I've lightened up on this issue. Clearly, we use other adverbs, such as "clearly," "finally" and "unfortunately," to modify entire sentences. So why not use "hopefully" the same way, to mean "it is to be hoped"? Hopefully, many of you will agree with me.

-- If vs. whether -- Until the mid-90s, I used "if" and "whether" interchangeably, and thus saw nothing wrong with this sentence: "Let me know if you'll be there." It means the same thing as "Let me know whether you'll be there," right?

Wrong! Several readers let me have it when I used "if" this way in my column. They explained that, technically, "Let me know if you'll be there" means, let me know only if you're going to be there, which is something quite different from "let me know whether you'll be there," which means let me know either way.

-- Forte -- For years I've insisted that "forte," meaning "a strong point," should be pronounced as "fort" and that "fort-ay" be reserved for the musical term meaning "loud." But the "fort-ay" rendering of the strength "forte" is now so common that I'm waving the white flag and surrendering the "fort" on this one.

-- Split infinitives -- Thirty-two years ago, I was the arch enemy of the split infinitive, the dastardly act of inserting an adverb between "to" and its verb, as in "to boldly go." Splitting an infinitive, I believed, was as crude as splitting an Oreo cookie in two just to lick the white frosting inside.

That was then. I now believe that, while it's usually best to avoid splitting an infinitive, there are times when splitting ("to boldly go") is less clumsy than not splitting ("boldly to go," "to go boldly").

And, OK, I admit it: These days, I do occasionally split open an Oreo cookie to lick the white frosting inside. Yum!

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Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Connecticut, invites your language sightings. His book, "Mark My Words," is available for $9.99 on Amazon.com. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to WordGuy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

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