Normally, we are taught to put the adverb after the auxiliary verb ‘BE’:
- You‘re absolutely going to love it. (TO LOVE = TO INFINITIVE)
- You’re going to absolutely love it. (SPLIT INFINITIVE)
As a native speaker, the first example sounds wrong and the split infinitive sounds right. This intuition is confirmed in the iWeb corpus for what occurs more often:
- GOING TO ABSOLUTELY LOVE 259 examples
- ABSOLUTELY GOING TO LOVE 87 examples
Splitting infinitives is normal in English!
In the English Grammar Profile (EGP), C2 point 69 in the category of FUTURE is defined:
be going to + a wide range of adverbs before the main verb
Usually, when the EGP defines a grammar point as ‘a wide range of’ something, there are grammar points listed at lower levels. In this case, there are no other examples or CEFR levels for other ranges of adverbs in this position.
These are examples of informal ‘split infinitives’. You might want to avoid this grammar structure in writing.
A top 100 list of adverb + (BARE) infinitive after “going to” from iWeb corpus using the code:
_vb* going to _r* _v?i*
We’ve also added a few real examples to illustrate…
1 ARE GOING TO ABSOLUTELY LOVE (127 = how many found in corpus)
2 IS GOING TO REALLY HELP (98)
3 ARE GOING TO REALLY ENJOY (81)
4 ‘RE GOING TO ABSOLUTELY LOVE (56)
5 IS GOING TO COMPLETELY CHANGE (56)
6 IS GOING TO PROBABLY BE (55)
7 IS GOING TO REALLY BE (54)
8 IS GOING TO ALWAYS BE (52)
9 ‘S GOING TO REALLY HELP (47)
10 IS GOING TO FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE (46)
11 IS GOING TO STILL BE 46
12 IS GOING TO JUST BE 44
13 ‘M GOING TO JUST GO 43
14 IS GOING TO QUICKLY BECOME 40
15 ARE GOING TO REALLY LOVE 39
16 ARE GOING TO SPECIFICALLY TACKLE 39
17 IS GOING TO ACTUALLY BE 37
18 ARE GOING TO STILL BE 36
19 ‘M GOING TO JUST HAVE 35
20 IS GOING TO DRAMATICALLY CHANGE 35
21 ARE GOING TO REALLY BE 33
22 ‘RE GOING TO REALLY ENJOY 32
23 ARE GOING TO ALWAYS BE 32
24 IS GOING TO DRASTICALLY CHANGE 31
25 WAS GOING TO JUST GET 31
26 ‘S GOING TO PROBABLY BE 30
27 ARE GOING TO REALLY HAVE 30
28 ‘RE GOING TO JUST HAVE 29
29 ARE GOING TO JUST HAVE 29
30 IS GOING TO ALSO BE 29
31 IS GOING TO EITHER BE 29
32 IS GOING TO REALLY MAKE 29
33 WAS GOING TO JUST BE 29
34 ‘M GOING TO RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE 28
35 IS GOING TO LIKELY BE 28
36 ‘M GOING TO JUST KEEP 27
37 ‘M GOING TO JUST SAY 27
38 ‘S GOING TO REALLY BE 27
39 IS GOING TO EVENTUALLY BE 27
40 IS GOING TO SOON BE 26
41 WAS GOING TO JUST GO 25
42 ‘M GOING TO JUST DO 24
43 ‘RE GOING TO STILL BE 24
44 IS GOING TO ADVERSELY AFFECT 24
45 IS GOING TO GREATLY INCREASE 24
46 WAS GOING TO JUST HAVE 24
47 ‘M GOING TO JUST LEAVE 23
48 ‘M GOING TO JUST TAKE 23
49 ‘M GOING TO REALLY ENJOY 23
50 ‘M GOING TO REALLY MISS 23
51 ARE GOING TO ALSO BE 23
52 IS GOING TO JUST GIVE 23
53 IS GOING TO NEGATIVELY AFFECT 23
54 IS GOING TO RADICALLY CHANGE 23
55 WAS GOING TO JUST USE 23
56 ‘RE GOING TO JUST KEEP 22
57 ‘RE GOING TO REALLY BE 22
58 ARE GOING TO ACTUALLY BE 22
59 ARE GOING TO EITHER BE 22
60 IS GOING TO REALLY ENJOY 22
61 WAS GOING TO JUST DO 22
62 ‘S GOING TO REALLY MAKE 21
63 ARE GOING TO REALLY GET 21
64 ‘M GOING TO JUST USE 20
65 ‘RE GOING TO PROBABLY HAVE 20
66 ‘S GOING TO COMPLETELY CHANGE 20
67 ‘S GOING TO JUST BE 20
68 ARE GOING TO REALLY HELP 20
69 IS GOING TO DIRECTLY AFFECT 20
70 IS GOING TO EVENTUALLY GET 20
71 IS GOING TO EVER BE 20
72 WAS GOING TO JUST BUY 20
73 ‘S GOING TO ALWAYS BE 19
74 ARE GOING TO ACTUALLY HAVE 19
75 ARE GOING TO REALLY STRUGGLE 19
76 IS GOING TO BEST SUIT 19
77 ‘M GOING TO FUCKING KILL 18
78 ‘M GOING TO JUST PUT 18
79 ‘RE GOING TO REALLY HAVE 18
80 ‘RE GOING TO REALLY LOVE 18
81 ARE GOING TO ACTUALLY USE 18
82 ARE GOING TO EVENTUALLY HAVE 18
83 ARE GOING TO JUST LET 18
84 IS GOING TO DRAMATICALLY INCREASE 18
85 WAS GOING TO JUST MAKE 18
86 ‘M GOING TO JUST STICK 17
87 ‘RE GOING TO ACTUALLY HAVE 17
88 ‘S GOING TO STILL BE 17
89 ARE GOING TO JUST BE 17
90 ARE GOING TO JUST GO 17
91 ARE GOING TO JUST KEEP 17
92 IS GOING TO BASICALLY BE 17
93 WAS GOING TO ACTUALLY DO 17
94 AM GOING TO JUST HAVE 16
95 ARE GOING TO COMPLETELY CHANGE 16
96 ARE GOING TO FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE 16
97 ARE GOING TO JUST LOVE 16
98 ARE GOING TO PROBABLY BE 16
99 ARE GOING TO QUICKLY BECOME 16
100 IS GOING TO ACTUALLY WORK 16
C1 adverbs found in the mid position:
drastically, radically, specifically
C2:
fundamentally, respectfully