Are there rules on the placement of 'best'?

  • They are deciding how to best handle the matter.
  • They are deciding how best to handle the matter.

Is one of them wrong?


Both are grammatical, but the second is probably found more frequently.


Like Barrie England said, both are grammatically correct and mean the same. But it is considered non-standard to split infinitives (to + verb forms) by many. So by that account, saying how to best handle (infinitive is split as best is placed between to and handle) might sound unusual, though grammatically correct.