• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Bob Kelly Writer

Making You Look Good On Paper

  • About
  • Writing Services
  • KellyGram
  • Quotations
  • Testimonials
  • Blog
  • Contact

Writing: The Preposition Position

February 22, 2018 by Bob Kelly

“Maybe at last,” wrote Jack Smith, the late great author and Los Angeles Times columnist, “we are throwing out old Miss Thistleblossom’s notion that the preposition is a bad thing to end a sentence with.”

He added: “If we could purge the English-speaking world of this foolish teaching, we might eliminate the tortured sentences that our speakers and writers contrive in ritual avoidance of the terminal preposition.”

To bolster his position, Smith quoted the famous literary stylist and grammar expert E.B. White, co-author of the classic manual, The Elements of Style. Smith cites a letter White wrote, containing these words: “The next grammar book I bring out I want to tell how to end a sentence with five prepositions. A father of a little boy goes upstairs after supper to read to his son, but he brings the wrong book. The boy says, ‘What did you bring the book that I don’t want to be read to out of up for?’”

White’s letter was written about a half-century ago, and Smith’s column in 1984, but alas, some folks still haven’t gotten the word. In a recent column, one very experienced writer, whose name we won’t mention, was talking about her son, a high school assistant principal. Demonstrating the kind of “tortured sentence” Smith was lamenting, she wrote: “He knows from where kids are coming.”

“Ritual avoidance,” indeed! In fairness to this lady, whose column I enjoy reading, her editor may have rearranged her words, in the mistaken belief that a preposition is a bad thing to end a sentence with.

Primary Sidebar

Post Archives

  • ► 2019 (2)
    • ► January (2)
      • Shot Down by Amazon!
      • Thoughts for the New Year
  • ▼ 2018 (59)
    • ► December (1)
      • Happy Birthday to Jesus - and Me!
    • ► November (4)
      • The Power of Questions
      • The Apostrophe Protection Society
      • Listen to Your Writing
      • Change of Address
    • ► September (8)
      • Leaving Readers Dangling - and Confused
      • Strategic Incompetence? There's a Word for It!
      • Watch Your Language!
      • Getting His Words Mixed!
      • Logophobia - and Other Diseases!
      • The Straight Scoop!
      • The Joy of Lex
      • The Proofreader’s Role
    • ► August (6)
      • Schmoozing? Or Losing?
      • Celebrating Bad Writing
      • What’s Up?
      • Feeling Unappreciated?
      • Completed at Last
      • A Must Read – Times Two!
    • ► May (7)
      • Favorite Words
      • Preparing a Book Proposal
      • Quintessence – Part 2
      • Quintessence – Part 1
      • Resources for Writers
      • The Power of the Tongue
      • “Reasons” not to Change
    • ► April (8)
      • Paronomasia? Say What!
      • The Biker
      • New Books
      • Condoughlences
      • Tax Time
      • A Sense of Humor
      • I’m Glad You Asked
      • National Humor Month!
    • ► March (9)
      • Play Ball
      • Banished Words
      • The "Fighting" Irish? I Object!
      • My Friend Patrick and Me - Part 2
      • My Friend Patrick and Me - Part 1
      • Opening Lines!
      • David Wins - Again!
      • Three Strikes and You're Out!
      • How Readable Is Your Writing? (Part 2)
    • ▼ February (7)
      • How Readable Is Your Writing? (Part 1)
      • Writing: The Preposition Position
      • Words: Loaded Pistols
      • Twenty-six – That’s All You Get!
      • Want to Write That Book? What's Stopping You? (Part 2)
      • Twenty-six – That’s All You Get!
      • How’s Your Deportment?
    • ► January (9)
      • Why Do We Quote?
      • Down with Literacy
      • A Little Bit More
      • The Ghostwriter’s Role
      • ‘Tain’t What You Say!
      • Adjectives and Banana Peels
      • Note Worthy
      • Painting Word Pictures
      • Words – A Love Affair
  • ► 2017 (3)
    • ► December (3)
      • New Year’s Day – a Vial Experience!
      • The New Year
      • The Reason for the Season!

Copyright © 2021 · Author Pro On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in