Prepositions, Ending a Sentence With

End a sentence with a preposition (such as ) with, belong toAnd ARRIVE) is allowed in English. It seems that the idea that this should be avoided originated with writers Joshua Poole and John Dryden, who were trying to align the language with Latin, but there is no reason to assume that ending sentences with a preposition is wrong. However, the idea that it is a rule is still held by many.

When one looks back on the glorious and bloody history of grammar and usage wars, it quickly becomes apparent that many of the things that brought our ancestors to a standstill no longer bother us much. again. George Fox, founder of the Religious Friends Association, was annoyed when people used Friend (instead of Friend) to tell a man that in 1660 he wrote a whole book about it. “He’s not a Newcomer,” Fox wrote, “and Unpolite, and a fool, and a fool, that speaks for itself. Friend ARRIVE onethat is not to talk to a singularbut to much?” The rest of us have moved quite a bit.

church

Regarding the rule against ending sentences with prepositions, Churchill famously said, “This is the kind of nonsense I won’t give.” However, it is unlikely that he ever said such a thing.

And then there are some prohibitions that are oddly persistent (like not starting a sentence with And), defying common sense, grammar experts and the way in which real people use the English language. Perhaps the most notable example is the rule not to end sentences with a preposition (also known as ). stuck prepositionor sentence ending prepositionfor those of you who want to impress / alienate your friends).

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Where did this rule come from?

There is some disagreement about how we begin to chuckle at people who end their sentences with a belong to, ARRIVEor because, but agree that it has been bugging people for a very long time. Many believe this rule dates back to the 17th century poet John Dryden, who reprimanded Ben Jonson in 1672: “Preposition at the end of a sentence; a common mistake with him.” Jonson probably didn’t heed this advice much, given how he died, but millions of people suffered as a result in the years that followed.

Nuria Yáñez-Bouza proposed an alternative theory: she discovered that, decades before Dryden, an obscure grammarian named Joshua Poole had made a similar point in his book. english accident. Poole was more concerned with having prepositions placed in “their natural order” and not specifically referring to the end of a sentence as Dryden did.

If it’s fair, we can credit Poole for creating the rule and Dryden for popularizing it. Both Dryden and Poole may have been motivated by a desire to make English grammar more consistent with Latin, a language where sentences syntactically cannot end in prepositions.

In the 18th century, some people who liked to tell others they were wrong decided Dryden was right and began to advise against the last preposition. Sometimes the advice is not to end a sentence with a preposition. At other times it is more general, like Poole’s rule. For example, Noah Webster, in his 1784 book on grammar, was careful not to separate prepositions “from the words they govern.” He has argued that “grammarians seem to allow this mode of expression in familiar conversation and writing, but it is generally considered impolite, and in a serious and sublime style, certainly Definitely unacceptable.”

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However, by the time of the 20th century, most grammar and usage guides had come to the conclusion that there was really nothing wrong with end prepositions. In fact, for about 100 years now, there has been almost unanimity on this issue from the manuals. So the problem has to be solved, right?

No, it must not. A glance at the newspapers from last year reveals that there are still some people who find the last preposition an abomination enough that they are willing—perhaps, one imagines, even eagerly—to write to the editor. editors of any newspaper in which they found it.

Why do both the editor and the letter writer have to blatantly conjugate the infinitive? And finally, ending a sentence with a preposition is something we can do without! – letter sent everyday camera (Boulder, CO), February 17, 2016

I think a State Journalist will know correct English, unless this is done to get people’s attention. It’s definitely mine. The first sentence of the second paragraph, “This is where we are”. Really…No sentence should end with a preposition. It should be, “This is where we are”. If it’s not done on purpose, I advise Patrick to go back to English Grammar 101 before he writes the next column. – letter sent Asheville (NC) Citizen-TimesFebruary 15, 2016

Conventional wisdom would assume that a Canadian citizen is a Canadian, regardless of status. Also, you should not end a sentence with a preposition. — phoenix star (Sskatoon, Saskatchewan), September 25, 2015

It seems that some people are determined to follow this rule, no matter how many times they are told that it is not actually a rule. In the same way, many people who prefer to use prepositions at the end will give some misleading version of a quote from Winston Churchill, “This is the kind of nonsense I’m not going to give.” Linguist Ben Zimmer has convincingly demonstrated that, as is the case with many of Churchill’s quotes, this is almost certainly never said.

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If you don’t want to end your sentences with a preposition, you don’t have to—just don’t say it’s a rule. And if you want to end your sentence succinctly withgo ahead and keep doing so—just don’t quote Winston Churchill when someone says you shouldn’t.

Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn

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