Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for December 13, 2016
December 12, 2016
December 14, 2016
Transcript:
Courtroom: You stand accused of ending your sentences with a preposition. How do you plead?
Man standing: Hey, that I am not guilty of!
Caption: The new record holder for the quickest case in grammar court.
The idea of not ending a sentence with a preposition came from a bunch of elitists who were smitten with Latin in the late 19th century. Lest we forget “Latin is a dead language, as dead as it can be. It killed off all the Romans, and now it’s killing me”
As a professional editor, this is one myth that just won’t die. None of the grammar style guides has ever condemned the use of a preposition at the end of a sentence. This is a remnant of 19th Century classism and gatekeeping meant to prevent poor whites from donning fancy clothing to try to pass themselves off as rich folk. (Obviously, nothing was needed to keep people of color at bay.) This is just one of the few remaining convoluted rules of grammar designed to spot an imposter. Please, let it die.
There are at least two alleged English grammar rules that originated with nitwits that put so much effort into learning Latin that they failed to learn all of their native language:
Never split an infinitive. (E.g., “to boldly go” is perfectly good English even if you couldn’t say that in Latin. Whether to use that or “to go boldly” is a stylistic choice, not a matter of grammar.)
Never end a sentence with a preposition. The nitwits that invented that rule not only failed to understand certain English grammatical constructions, but they couldn’t even write a rule that accomplished what they intended – as numerous comedians have pointed out, any “violation” of that rule can be cured by adding “a**hole” to the end of the sentence.
It’s always a good idea to never split infinitives. Be aware of clauses modifying sentences. Verbs should matches their antecedents. About sentence fragments. And don’t verb nouns. Its also a good idea to use the proper modifier in it’s place. This sentence no verb.
Parent goes upstairs to read their child a bedtime story, but brings the wrong book. Child says, “What did you bring the book I didn’t want to be read to out of up for?”
Interesting! All these comments and no reminded us that the rule is a myth! There are plenty of cases where ending in preposition is perfectly OK. Like: “What are you afraid of?” I found scores of examples when I looked this up. For those of you who need some wierd authority to back this up, check out the folks with Oxford.
Pre position: “because it is supposed to be positioned to come before the prepositional phrase.” Old Latin superstitution of no relevance to English.
.
mommapat, Night-Gaunt49, and marylc
Old English is a Germanic language: Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, etc. and its basic structure is essentially Germanic, as are the most commonly used spoken words. However, most of the modern English words in the dictionary are from Latin, if not Greek through Latin, roots by way of the 1066 invasion. As a result, we have something of a hodgepodge language, which is why it is so difficult to learn fluently as a second (or worse language. Grammar is learned easily, exceptions to those rules are harder. Building a vocabulary takes a lifetime.
.
Added to that is the way English builds words German defines it is as few words as possible, removes the spaces, and it is a new word. French gives it to ‘Academie Française to debate and a decade later is is an official French word and can be used in legal documents. English looks around and finds a language that has a word of it, and steals it. Unfortunately, if it is a Roman alphabet language (as most are) they keep the same spelling and mispronounce it horribly or spell it phonetically and lose all track of its origins that anchors the definition. And that doesn’t even get into rules for plurals and such.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] almost 8 years ago
Grammar court right next to the food court and tennis court.
Randy B Premium Member almost 8 years ago
He was guilty of everything but that, and now he’s also guilty of that.
pbarnrob almost 8 years ago
I think I had her for sophomore English. Now I proofread everything I read, and use Calibre to fix it. Reading takes a while.
dl11898 almost 8 years ago
He and Yoda should bond really well.
Ragtime78rpm almost 8 years ago
“…there are some things up with which I will not put!"
—-Churchill
Varnes almost 8 years ago
Jo, I thought we were called common taters…..And gentlemen, please cover up your dangling participles……
nosirrom almost 8 years ago
The idea of not ending a sentence with a preposition came from a bunch of elitists who were smitten with Latin in the late 19th century. Lest we forget “Latin is a dead language, as dead as it can be. It killed off all the Romans, and now it’s killing me”
andylyke almost 8 years ago
NEVER use a preposition to end a sentence up with!“Mommy, what did you bring the book I didn’t want to be read to out of up for?”
Varnes almost 8 years ago
Dang it Dogsniff! That line was the one I was looking for when I was posting before above
Megan Albertson Premium Member almost 8 years ago
As a professional editor, this is one myth that just won’t die. None of the grammar style guides has ever condemned the use of a preposition at the end of a sentence. This is a remnant of 19th Century classism and gatekeeping meant to prevent poor whites from donning fancy clothing to try to pass themselves off as rich folk. (Obviously, nothing was needed to keep people of color at bay.) This is just one of the few remaining convoluted rules of grammar designed to spot an imposter. Please, let it die.
Superfrog almost 8 years ago
The Grammar Nazis are write wing extremists.
Kaputnik almost 8 years ago
As Winston Churchill said, “This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put.”
dot-the-I almost 8 years ago
Judge: Next case – “Mr. Split Infinitive.”
cgrantt57 Premium Member almost 8 years ago
@ dot-the-I
Don’t worry, Mr. Split Infinitive plans to boldly state his case, or so I’ve heard.
mommavamp almost 8 years ago
Latin is alive and well and living in Science, Medicine, the Law and at the root of many English words.
gammaguy almost 8 years ago
Is it just coincidence that the “judge” bears a disturbing resemblance to the stereotypical cartoon “grammar” (grandma)?
whiteheron almost 8 years ago
The judge looks like somebody’s Grammer.
Dani Rice almost 8 years ago
My mum is alive and well.
sbwertz almost 8 years ago
I used to be an English teacher and one of my favorite sentences ends in five consecutive prepositions!
Child to father at bedtime: “What did you bring that book I don’t want to be read to out of up for?”
Honorable Mention In The Banjo Toss Premium Member almost 8 years ago
“Six months of diagramming sentences! Next case!”
markmoss1 almost 8 years ago
There are at least two alleged English grammar rules that originated with nitwits that put so much effort into learning Latin that they failed to learn all of their native language:
Never split an infinitive. (E.g., “to boldly go” is perfectly good English even if you couldn’t say that in Latin. Whether to use that or “to go boldly” is a stylistic choice, not a matter of grammar.)
Never end a sentence with a preposition. The nitwits that invented that rule not only failed to understand certain English grammatical constructions, but they couldn’t even write a rule that accomplished what they intended – as numerous comedians have pointed out, any “violation” of that rule can be cured by adding “a**hole” to the end of the sentence.
Ermine Notyours almost 8 years ago
The end of a sentence is not a good place to put a preposition at.
dflak almost 8 years ago
It’s always a good idea to never split infinitives. Be aware of clauses modifying sentences. Verbs should matches their antecedents. About sentence fragments. And don’t verb nouns. Its also a good idea to use the proper modifier in it’s place. This sentence no verb.
zeexenon almost 8 years ago
That sounds like a lot of onomatopoeia to me.
Bugbert almost 8 years ago
I end my sentences with punctuation such as a period or question mark.
dabugger almost 8 years ago
He’l still get the last word in.
paul brians almost 8 years ago
Here are the results of my research on the Churchill “quote.”http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/churchill.html
This is number 2 on my list of non-errors.http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/nonerrors.html#preposition
Sailor46 USN 65-95 almost 8 years ago
“Hey, that I’m not guilty of, jerk!"
Problem solved, granted another one was just created!ogsbury almost 8 years ago
Parent goes upstairs to read their child a bedtime story, but brings the wrong book. Child says, “What did you bring the book I didn’t want to be read to out of up for?”
kleanerz almost 8 years ago
Hey, of that I’m not guilty.
ne7minder almost 8 years ago
I am not a grammar nazi, I am anti-alt-write
STACEY MARSHALL Premium Member almost 8 years ago
A little like Yoda-Speak, to me it sounds!
hedgehog182 almost 8 years ago
Interesting! All these comments and no reminded us that the rule is a myth! There are plenty of cases where ending in preposition is perfectly OK. Like: “What are you afraid of?” I found scores of examples when I looked this up. For those of you who need some wierd authority to back this up, check out the folks with Oxford.
hippogriff almost 8 years ago
Pre position: “because it is supposed to be positioned to come before the prepositional phrase.” Old Latin superstitution of no relevance to English.
.
mommapat, Night-Gaunt49, and marylc
Old English is a Germanic language: Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, etc. and its basic structure is essentially Germanic, as are the most commonly used spoken words. However, most of the modern English words in the dictionary are from Latin, if not Greek through Latin, roots by way of the 1066 invasion. As a result, we have something of a hodgepodge language, which is why it is so difficult to learn fluently as a second (or worse language. Grammar is learned easily, exceptions to those rules are harder. Building a vocabulary takes a lifetime.
.
Added to that is the way English builds words German defines it is as few words as possible, removes the spaces, and it is a new word. French gives it to ‘Academie Française to debate and a decade later is is an official French word and can be used in legal documents. English looks around and finds a language that has a word of it, and steals it. Unfortunately, if it is a Roman alphabet language (as most are) they keep the same spelling and mispronounce it horribly or spell it phonetically and lose all track of its origins that anchors the definition. And that doesn’t even get into rules for plurals and such.