Re: A Preposition *WHERE*?--Churchill again

[LaVonna Funkhouser <lffunkhouser -at- HALNET -dot- COM>]

I don't know why, but there are multiple versions of the Churchill
story around.  I've heard he was not protesting the "rule,"
he was questioning the actions of an editor who tried
to impose the rule upon him.  I quote from _Engineered Report
Writing_ by Melba W. Murray, 1969, pp. 58-59, which I found in
the company library.

  "You Can End a Sentence with a Preposition--because a
  preposition is sometimes the best word to end a
  sentence _with_.  The Latin prepostion was literally a
  pre-positioned word, in accordance with its name or definition,
  so it came 'before.' That's how we came by the rule that
  you can't end a sentence with a preposition.  Then Winston
  Churchill made his now-famous notation
  on a script corrected by a clerk or secretary:
  'This is the kind of arrant pedantry up with which I will
   not put.'"

This is the _only_ place I've seen this "quote" in writing, and
this version may not be verifiable.

Murray goes on to use another example of a poster at a credit union.
The poster had a penny taped to it, and it read "--And there's more
from where this came!"  :-)

Regards,
LaVonna


At 04:06 PM 3/20/96 -0800, Leif wrote:
>Winston Churchill is reported to have responded to the "rule" preventing
>ending sentences with a preposition by saying:

>"That is a rule up with which I shall not put."

>Leif Wennerberg
>Menlo Park, CA
>leif -at- kudonet -dot- com


LaVonna F. Funkhouser, COREComm
lffunkhouser -at- halnet -dot- com (work)
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