Split Infinitive

An infinitive is a verb form. In English, an infinitive is the word to plus a verb; to dance, to sing, to write, and to talk are examples. Generally, grammarians state that an infinitive should not be split. In other words, no word should be inserted between the two words of an infinitive. The other side of the argument is that this is just a stuffy, unnecessary rule influenced by languages such as Latin in which an infinitive is one word and cannot be split. I agree that there are times when splitting an infinitive is acceptable because the alternatives are awkward. In this instance, though, the word not could be moved before the infinitive. Rewording "to not disturb" to "not to disturb" is not awkward and follows the traditional rule.