Twitter

Friday, September 6, 2013

Are we still expected to follow that old rule about never ending a sentence with a preposition?

FYI, I came across this while doing some prep work for one of my classes.  

Are we still expected to follow that old rule about never ending a sentence with a preposition?
That's a "rule" (based on the etymology of "preposition" and a false analogy to Latin) that you just don't have to put up with. As long ago as 1926, Henry Fowler dismissed the rule about "preposition stranding" as "a cherished superstition" ignored by major writers from Shakespeare to Thackeray. In fact, he said, "the remarkable freedom enjoyed by English in putting its prepositions late and omitting its relatives is an important element in the flexibility of the language" (A Dictionary of Modern English Usage).

No comments:

Post a Comment