Posted on 05/18/2019 5:30:39 AM PDT by Moonman62
If you watch House of Cards, you might remember this scene from season one. (Warning: it contains the C-bomb, so dont watch it if youll be offended by that!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=28&v=vaDoaCsgj_s
The joke is based on an entirely false grammar rule: Thou shalt not end a sentence with a preposition. Prepositions, remember, are words that describe the position of one thing in relation to another: at, to, in, of, about, from, above, etc. So youll hear people trying to obey this rule by saying things like this:
To what are you referring? (instead of What are you referring to?)
There is the person about whom I was speaking (instead of There is the person I was speaking about)
From where did he get his temper? (instead of Where did he get his temper from?)
But they neednt bother, because every modern-day authority agrees theres nothing wrong with ending a sentence with a preposition. The rule was dreamed up by John Dryden in a petty attempt to prove that he was a better poet than Ben Jonson. He invented some hogwash about how English should abide by the same preposition rules as Latin, which made no sense, since theyre different languages with, for the most part, very different rules.
So if anyone scolds you for saying What are you looking at? instead of At what are you looking?, you can shame them with your superior knowledge of both grammar and 17th-century poetry or just send them the link to that YouTube clip above.
Up with which I will not put.
What? Is a preposition a bad word to end a sentence with?
Or, as the little boy sick in bed asked his mom, “What did you bring that book I wanted to be read to out of up for?”
Nice! LOL
Diagram THAT sentence!
I too will make a trade of the occasional preposition at the end of a sentence for the proper use of “their”, “there” and “they’re”.
Grammar Police on Patrol
Language rules express the way people speak, not the way grammarians thought they did 300 years ago. How do people speak? Even if you don’t like it, that’s the language, not what’s in the book.
And it doesn’t matter what modern-day authorities say.
A preposition is OK to end a sentence with.
Brings back painful memories of childhood!
“There is some crap, up with which, I will not put.” - a favorite line from Rebecca, on “Cheers.”
“Why You Should Ignore the Rule to Never End a Sentence With a Preposition”
There’s another rule: Never split an infinitive: Don’t write “to never end a sentence . . . .” but rather “never to end a sentence. . . . “
A period.
Where are you at?
There is a huge difference between written English, which is more formal, and spoken English which is assisted by facial expression and inflection. It is fine to end converstional sentences with prepositions. My pet peeve in written and conversational is “this” and “her” and “his”. I end up saying back “her who?” “this what?” a lot.
Punctuation usually works for me.
Parole.
Ebonics is definitely not in any book. Pretty weak defense otherwise.
At work recently, we had some fun with this after receiving a writing guide that instructed us not to use the Oxford comma.
Commas truly change meanings.
"Eats leaves and shoots?" or "Eats, leaves, and shoots"?
Commas even save lives.
"Let's eat Grandma!" or "Let's eat, Grandma!"
Recently, a company was forced to pay a considerable amount of backpay to drivers as a result of a lacking Oxford comma. Lack of Oxford comma costs Maine dairy company $5 million
Moral: Never be afraid to use a comma.
In this case, a "?" would help.
Why You Should Ignore the Rule to Never End a Sentence With a Preposition
Theres another rule: Never split an infinitive: Dont write to never end a sentence . . . . but rather never to end a sentence. . . .
...
What percentage of people know what the sentence means without noticing the grammar? I would say 99% or better.
If George Washington had not defeated Lord Cornwallis in Yorktown, we would still be speaking English in this country, Yo!
Are emojis permitted yet? 🤔
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