tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post4520903110597475043..comments2024-02-28T05:25:12.859-05:00Comments on English, Jack: The FBI and splitting infinitivesBretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02870575277556244419noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-36886540551010764252011-03-08T20:03:55.285-05:002011-03-08T20:03:55.285-05:00Thanks for clearing that up, Keith! Glad to hear t...Thanks for clearing that up, Keith! Glad to hear that's how it went.Bretthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02870575277556244419noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-2145312327798502582011-03-08T19:46:59.727-05:002011-03-08T19:46:59.727-05:00I work for Cataphora, and I was in the room when t...I work for Cataphora, and I was in the room when the "split inifinitives" quote was said. It wasn't meant as a literal statement. The discussion was about how the level of formality in written communications often changes when the writer thinks the communication may be read by people other than the intended parties. We have seen this in real world data, both because people watch what they write to a greater degree, and because they go back and "clean up" their existing data by deleting embarassing or incriminating outbursts. This matters to us because it is is one of the things we look for in criminal and civil investigations, as a way to locate important events. <br /><br />With that said, we don't have data specifically about split-infinitives. That was just an off-the-cuff quip, which unfortunately may not come through in the article.<br /><br />Also, to be clear, Cataphora is not primarily an NLP company. We're primarily interested in human behavior modeling. We do use NLP techniques, but we do a lot of other things as well, including social network analysis and various forms of clustering, as well as a lot of proprietary techniques that don't fit neatly into any these.<br /><br />Keith Schon<br />Manager, Core Technology Group, CataphoraAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31830497.post-24524350171660819392011-03-06T01:34:32.961-05:002011-03-06T01:34:32.961-05:00Yes, that is a little strange - 'Hey, let'...Yes, that is a little strange - 'Hey, let's not use split infinitives because the FBI folks might be watching'? - come on. <br /><br />The article does say '[a] shift in an author’s e-mail style, from breezy to unusually formal, can raise a red flag about illegal activity.' - which the infinitive thing is supposed to illustrate. The obvious implication is, split infinitives = breezy; fewer split infinitives = unusually formal. <br /><br />I would refrain from making any judgment yet, though, because these kinds of observations are generally based on solid facts. Maybe they do see fewer infinitives in dubious communications - in that particular kind of criminal investigation. That is, 'You tend to split a lot fewer ...' means 'These (semi-educated?) criminals tend to ...'. <br /><br />But then, I don't know. But I am intrigued; I wait for more on this to come.Q Higuchihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12065110305928472008noreply@blogger.com