View Full Version : Why is a proposition something you shouldn't end a sentence with?
Dinny Bossa Nova
05-29-2005, 09:36 PM
Explain.
Dinny
Rain Man
05-29-2005, 09:38 PM
I've read that it's not always a sin. There are times when it's appropriate, but most of the time it needs to precede an object as a modifier.
patteeu
05-29-2005, 09:41 PM
LOL at the thread title. Nice one.
Pants
05-29-2005, 09:41 PM
I've read that it's not always a sin. There are times when it's appropriate, but most of the time it needs to precede an object as a modifier.
"Let's go in!"
"Where are you from?"
Do these count?
milkman
05-29-2005, 09:46 PM
Who are you propositioning, and why is it that you can't end a sentence with it?
Uncle_Ted
05-29-2005, 11:02 PM
Reminds me of a joke I heard long ago ...
Freshman: "Professor, where is the library at?"
Professor: "Young man, here at Harvard we do not end our sentences with prepositions."
Freshman: "I'm sorry ... where is the library at, a$$hole?"
chief52
05-29-2005, 11:04 PM
Reminds me of a joke I heard long ago ...
Freshman: "Professor, where is the library at?"
Professor: "Young man, here at Harvard we do not end our sentences with prepositions."
Freshman: "I'm sorry ... where is the library at, a$$hole?"
I like it...always go hammered for the "at" thing.
Guess it is just the rules.
LOL at the thread title. Nice one.
Should have put is as:
Why can't you end a sentence with a proposition?
Then it would have been at the end of a sentence.
I'm guessing they're meaning propositional phrases and not offers. Just one of the many rules of the English language, my friend.
Logical
05-29-2005, 11:43 PM
Should have put is as:
Why can't you end a sentence with a proposition?
Then it would have been at the end of a sentence.
I'm guessing they're meaning propositional phrases and not offers. Just one of the many rules of the English language, my friend.
You are joking right, he meant preposition and just mispelled it.
You are joking right, he meant preposition and just mispelled it.
OH, then I must have spelled it wrong also. And I'm usually known for my spelling. :banghead:
Jenson71
05-29-2005, 11:45 PM
Madness.....madness.....madness
You are joking right, he meant preposition and just mispelled it.
Or maybe he was thinking of, "You wanna?" That's a proposition. We just don't know what for.
OH, then I must have spelled it wrong also. And I'm usually known for my spelling. :banghead:
You're banned. This is a spell error-free zone.
tk13, I just love that avatar! ROFL
Yeah, well it's obviously happy to see you too. :)
Rausch
05-30-2005, 02:57 AM
Yeah, well it's obviously happy to see you too. :)
The guy in your sig should be beaten to death though. Seriously.
He freaks me the **** out...
The guy in your sig should be beaten to death though. Seriously.
He freaks me the **** out...
Stare into his eyes. Just look, you will see a kindhearted man who wants to bring the joy of the breakfast sandwich into your heart.
HemiEd
05-30-2005, 05:37 AM
In Chicagoland it is a common practice. I know that I have been here too long because it is starting to seem normal.
Want to come with? ROFL
Dinny Bossa Nova
05-30-2005, 05:52 AM
Who are you propositioning, and why is it that you can't end a sentence with it?
Precisely what I'm thinking.
Dinny
Ultra Peanut
05-30-2005, 07:00 AM
This is definitely one thread that I'm already sick of.
Dinny Bossa Nova
05-30-2005, 07:08 AM
This is definitely one thread that I'm already sick of.
It's unfortunate that you are too young to remember Gilda Radner.
This is a spoof of one of her characters in the original Saturday Night Live cast.
Gilda was very funny.
My apologies, hope you get well soon.
Dinny
the Talking Can
05-30-2005, 07:27 AM
Well, because grammar Nazis say so.
But it is no longer considered a "rule."
----------------------------
Q: Can I end a sentence with a preposition? The grammar checker on my computer seems to think not.
A: As a general guideline, avoid ending a sentence with a preposition by recasting the sentence. This is a matter of style rather than grammar. The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide (CUP, 1995) advises that "as the last word in a sentence prepositions/particles make a rather limp ending".
Winston Churchill fancied himself as a stylist in the English language. He demonstrated in the following sentence the absurdity of recasting the sentence to avoid ending with a preposition:
"This is a form of pedantry up with which I will no longer put."
The result sounds absurd.
Conclusion: A preposition is not a good part of speech to end a sentence with.
link link (http://www.gu.edu.au/centre/gupsa/eir/content_ending_a_sentence.html)
the Talking Can
05-30-2005, 07:32 AM
ok, here's an answer:
According to Bill Bryson [The Mother Tongue: English And How It Got That Way Amazon.com [c.US$10]], "The source of this stricture... was one Robert Lowth, an eighteenth century clergyman and amateur grammarian whose A Short Introduction to English Grammar, published in 1762, enjoyed a long and distressingly influential life both in his native England and abroad." And further, that "...even he was not didactic about it. He recognized that ending a sentence with a preposition was idiomatic and common in both speech and informal writing. He suggested only that he thought it generally better and more graceful, not crucial, to place the preposition before its relative "in solemn and elevated" writing.".
broken rules (http://www.ojohaven.com/fun/broken.rules.html)
p.s.
threads about grammar are to Nick Athan like garlic to a vampire....
Dinny Bossa Nova
05-30-2005, 07:46 AM
Never mind.
Dinny
Skip Towne
05-30-2005, 08:41 AM
I'll do it if I have to.
el borracho
05-30-2005, 10:09 AM
Because.
morphius
05-30-2005, 10:32 AM
Well, because grammar Nazis say so.
But it is no longer considered a "rule."
----------------------------
Q: Can I end a sentence with a preposition? The grammar checker on my computer seems to think not.
A: As a general guideline, avoid ending a sentence with a preposition by recasting the sentence. This is a matter of style rather than grammar. The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide (CUP, 1995) advises that "as the last word in a sentence prepositions/particles make a rather limp ending".
Winston Churchill fancied himself as a stylist in the English language. He demonstrated in the following sentence the absurdity of recasting the sentence to avoid ending with a preposition:
"This is a form of pedantry up with which I will no longer put."
The result sounds absurd.
Conclusion: A preposition is not a good part of speech to end a sentence with.
link link (http://www.gu.edu.au/centre/gupsa/eir/content_ending_a_sentence.html)
So, in other words it follows most of the weird english rules, like I before E, except after C.
RealSNR
05-30-2005, 01:03 PM
I'll do it if I have to.I don't think that's a preposition. You mean to say "I'll do it if I have to do it." In this case, "to" is part of an infinitive clause, not a prepositional phrase. So even though you're informally shortening your sentence, you're not changing the structure.
Uncle_Ted
05-30-2005, 03:30 PM
In Chicagoland it is a common practice. I know that I have been here too long because it is starting to seem normal.
Want to come with? ROFL
I first heard that in college in Iowa City ... still drives me up the wall whenever I hear it.
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