Learn English – “probably have seen” or “have probably seen”

adverb-placementgrammar

Can we say that one of the the following sentences is more correct than the other? Is there any difference in meaning?

1) As you have probably seen, in that article he advocates free trade.

2) As you probably have seen, in that article he advocates free trade.

Best Answer

They are both correct, and there is no difference in meaning.

I believe there was a very pedantic belief in the past the parts of the verb should be kept together (I happened to see an example in another question moments ago). This was related to the idea that led to the belief split infinitives were wrong. You can see a discussion here.

So just as past grammarians would have said one should not say 'to probably see', they would also have said to avoid 'have probably seen'. It was fake grammar, and has long been discarded.

The example I just saw in another question was 'one could never tell'. This is a common phrase, but is much more common as 'one never could tell' or 'you never can tell'.

Even the people who still bemoan split infinitives will usually not know or care about the more 'advanced' version of the 'don't split the parts of verbs' rule.

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