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   Kyle Anderson 💙 (kandersonus@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 09-Feb-2024 22:26:12 JST Kyle Anderson 💙

   “Never end a sentence with a preposition!" is a lesson that has nagged me for decades but I try not to stress over.

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Friday, 09-Feb-2024 22:26:11 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

     in reply to

     @kandersonus I've heard that rule is a fossil from 19th century grammarians who were obsessed with making English more like French or Latin. We apparently call them "prepositions" because they really do necessarily come first in phrases in French or Latin, but English doesn't really have prepositions but rather particles that, as particles often do, get their placement by convention. Ditto "split infinitives"...we don't have infinitives. We have an infinitive-marking particle.

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Friday, 09-Feb-2024 22:26:54 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

     in reply to

     @kandersonus (and for the record, I do realize the joke you made...this subject just gets me going)

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     Kyle Anderson 💙 (kandersonus@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 10-Feb-2024 01:21:12 JST Kyle Anderson 💙

     in reply to

     • Kit Rhett Aultman

     @roadriverrail Whoa, I never made the connection to the root meaning of "preposition," probably due to how it's pronounced. Thank you for enlightening!

     It crossed my mind that using this grammar "properly" in everyday conversation plainly feels awkward. And that's okay, especially knowing now that it has inorganic origins!

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     Kit Rhett Aultman (roadriverrail@signs.codes)'s status on Saturday, 10-Feb-2024 01:21:12 JST Kit Rhett Aultman

     in reply to

     @kandersonus again, this is only what I've heard and not fully confirmed, but it explains where the rule comes from. If you end a sentence with a preposition, then... there's nothing after it, so what does it provide contextual information about? And you're right that rephrasing around that rule makes it sound awkward. You also find you have to start more rigidly using the objective form of nouns, and... you'll see French grammar begin to slide in.