I'm working on a public speech, which is grammatically correct? Finally find sounds harder to say in a speech to me... lol. You keep on diving, pass the tallest mountains, and (finally you find/you finally find) an individual worth looking for - you think it is going to be your ultimate love, but unfortunately, it turns out to be me (surprise!). Thanks!
Replace "find" with "discover" or a different synonym for "find." And the alliteration won't be a problem. As for the order, it depends on whether or not you want a pause. "Finally, you find" "You finally find" ETA: I don't believe there is anything grammatically incorrect about either of your examples.
I'd just say 'at last you find' and avoid the issue ... also do you keep driving rather than diving ?
@big soft moose - Diving. Here's the whole paragraph: If you will, let us activate our imaginations. You are descending from the sky, swaying through the blurry fog, the elusive clouds, and gaze upon this magnificent world to search for an interesting person. You see a few people at the peak, but you pass right through them because these perfectionists have no relevancy to your life. You keep on diving, pass the tallest mountains, and finally you find an individual worth looking for - you think it is going to be your ultimate love, but unfortunately, it turns out to be me (surprise!). I'm planning to use this speech for my Toastmaster International Contest. I'm kind of incorporating second point of view into this speech to draw my audiences and ask them to travel with me through their astral spirit form. Thanks both!
LADIES & GENTLEMEN...activate imagination. Descend from the sky, sway through blurry fog, sniff clouds, gaze upon this magnificent world, search for a person to love. Some wave at the peaks, [wave back] but you float beyond down into the valley. Those mountains sure were pretty. [pause, hands on hips..tch] finally, finally, finally you find an individual worth looking for, finally, your ultimate love, turns out to be me (surprise! audience member rushes stage, twirl, put her down/him x).
I'd go with @big soft moose's solution. But, to answer the question... "Finally find" is an example of the CKB (Classic Kirk Blunder), "boldly go." It's bad grammar and I have to wonder if so many of these discussions would crop up if not for the Star Trek opening credits and that badly-worded voice-over. A rule of thumb I came across concerning the use of adverbs suggests that they be placed either as the first word in a sentence or the last. You would then end up with: Finally, you will find... OR You will find <it>, finally.
Otherwise known as the split infinitive. In "Yes, Minister" there's a reference to a civil servant who would "rather split his trousers than an infinitive".
This is not an infinitive! It's clearly modified by 'you', and has nothing to do with Kirk and his going boldly. I'll tell you, OP, what I tell my students when dealing with adverbs: you can stick them in front of you want to, but only when you've got a good reason to, like it being poetry or a speech. Both are fine. Look up some presidential speeches and you'll find the same inverted adverb structures all over the shop.
Yeah, that's not an infinitive. And even if it were, the rule against split infinitives is one that's often ignored, or completely denied. Either version is fine - if it's for a speech, go with the one that feels best when you say it.
