Re: prepositions

["Massi, Jerri" <JMassi -at- ADMIN -dot- CLEMSONSC -dot- NCR -dot- COM>]

About annoying prepositions that end sentences:

Winston Churchill, commenting on the grammar rules governing prepositions,
reportedly said the following:

"There are some things, up with which I will not put!"
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From: TECHWR-L
To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: prepositions
Date: Friday, December 09, 1994 11:38AM

I'd much rather see prepositions at the end of sentences than dropped
totally or "in which" used indiscriminately, as I've been hearing with
increasing frequency, even on TV & radio.

Examples:
"You can use compiler options to control the linking process by changing
the type of runtime library which you link."
"You can use compiler options to control the linking process by changing
the type of runtime library in which you link to."

Nasty, eh? X-P (that's a smiley squinting & sticking its tongue out)

Sally Marquigny                    Network Imaging Systems
sallym -at- msmailhq -dot- netimage -dot- com       Herndon, VA
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From: TECHWR-L
To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: prepositions
Date: Friday, December 09, 1994 10:55AM

Glen Accardo writes:
>A preposition is a terrible word to end a sentence with.  I'd never write
the
>preceding sentence in a manual, but I would put it in email/e-mail/E-mail
 --

I don't have any trouble ending a sentence with a preposition.  Sometimes
the construction I'd need to use to get around it is more trouble than it's
worth.  If the sentence is clearer and shorter with the preposition at the
end, that's where I put it.

Example:
"You can use compiler options to control the linking process by changing
the type of runtime library you link to."

 - from a section of a compiler user's guide on "choosing runtime
libraries".


Michael Priestley
mpriestley -at- vnet -dot- ibm -dot- com
Disclaimer: speaking on my own behalf, not IBM's.