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I was looking up the exact wording of a quatrain I recalled. I found, to my surprise, that it is the first stanza of a longer poem. Hope you enjoy! The grammar has a rule absurd Which I would call an outworn myth— “A preposition is a word You mustn’t end a sentence with!” That rule I very often flout Because it makes me far from calm. It’s one I do not care about. I wonder where they get it from! I’ll make a preposition do The thing I want to use it for. Why should that be objected to? There’s nothing in it to abhor. For since my school-days first commenced It is a practice which I’ve found No reason to protest against Amid the folks I’ve been around. And though to purists it’s a sin And one that’s largely frowned upon, It’s one that I’ve persisted in Whatever spot I’m dwelling on. For if to any sentence pat A preposition adds more pith, And aids what I am driving at, Why, that is what I’ll end it with! — Berton Braley, “No Rule To Be Afraid Of” | ||
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As my colleagues here know, I have a very prescriptivist editor that I work with and every time she tells me about changing the whole sentence to avoid having a preposition at the end, I come to WC and find some of our evidence that it is a stupid rule that great writers have never used. | |||
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it is a stupid rule that great writers have never used. It's also a zombie rule that has a definite and singular origin: Dryden made it up ex nihilo. —Ceci n'est pas un seing. | |||
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When I try to change a sentence that I've written with a preposition at the end, it usually sounds incredibly awkward. Most of us don't talk like that. | |||
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Except for me at odd times, nobody here wears a Lynn Truss, a garment worn under the chin to hold one's nose up in a snooty position. (Sattva, see the book, "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves") | |||
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Does the Lynn Truss also get rid of a saggy chin/neck region? If so, sign me up! I just read where Lynne Truss wrote the book you mentioned. I like the idea though of it being something to firm up the chin. | |||
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I knew we had discussed this here before, but I couldn't find it. Now that you mentioned Dryden, I found that discussion here. | |||
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