Split infinitives: I read some years ago that in Latin it is impossible to split an infinitive because it is simply part of the way the verb is conjugated. Consequently, splitting infinitives implied you did not appreciate Latin, which in turn implied you were ill-educated. Consequently worrying about split infinitives is no more than snobbishness!

Anyone who is a Latin scholar is entitled to shoot this down :-)

Semicolons are a different matter - they are concerned with the lengths of pauses and changes of voice pitch as sentences start and end - in fact, they change mere words into music!