Dear wouterwouter, you are most welcome of course.
And you have demonstrated in your posts that you are one of the foreigners who speak/write better English than most of the native speakers.
Sorry - I haven't kept up with this thread. But, has anyone talked about dangling prepositions? They always irritate me.
Wrong: The story she was referring to is very exciting.
Right: The story to which she is referring is very exciting.
Wrong: That is a lie I simply cannot listen to.
Right: That is a lie to which I simply cannot listen.
Yeah, that's the danger of correct useage sometimes - and I try not to sound that way, in everyday conversation. Sometimes the misusage of the preposition seems pretty glaring to me, is all I meant (and this is a thread about pet peeves, after all). In any case, you won't see me correcting anyone's grammar in A2K.
Yeah, that's the danger of correct useage sometimes - and I try not to sound that way, in everyday conversation. Sometimes the misuse of the preposition seems pretty glaring to me, and that's all I meant (this is a thread about pet peeves, after all). In any case, you won't see me correcting anyone's grammar in A2K.
snood wrote:Yeah, that's the danger of correct useage sometimes - and I try not to sound that way, in everyday conversation. Sometimes the misuse of the preposition seems pretty glaring to me, and that's all I meant (this is a thread about pet peeves, after all). In any case, you won't see me correcting anyone's grammar in A2K.
No I agree with you snood, its a perfectly respectable peeve which we should all be annoyed with.
snood and Steve,
As long as the object of the preposition is somewhere in the sentence, it is not incorrect.
Don't you remember Winston Churchill's observation when his editor corrected him on prepositions?
"This is an impertinence up with which I will not put." Love it!
In response to pendantry from his civil servants, Churchill is attributed with the phrase:
"This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put."
Clearly ironic use of the "correct" structure...but a danger of which we must all be aware!
KP
KP, I think the difference has to do with formal and informal use of the Queen's English. <smile>
Letty wrote:snood and Steve,
As long as the object of the preposition is somewhere in the sentence, it is not incorrect.
Don't you remember Winston Churchill's observation when his editor corrected him on prepositions?
"This is an impertinence up with which I will not put." Love it!
Neither snood nor I said it was incorrect Letty, just irritating. Now that you and KP (hi KP) remind me of Churchill's riposte I'm tempted to try and think up ever more "hanging" prepositions.
I've got a feeling my pal JTT will disagree with some of this.
Hang on and hang in, Steve. We don't want to turn this into a debate as it was just an observation, Brit.
McTag wrote:I've got a feeling my pal JTT will disagree with some of this.
tch tch
"I've got a feeling my pal JTT with some of this will disagree"
Sir Paul: "But if this ever-changing world in which we live in"
I've been tempted to post up a picture of a well-hung preposition - but I've decided against it on the grounds it might offend some code of public decency here.
Hey, herberts. It ain't a hanging offence.
There's only one word in the American version of the English language which irritates the bejesus out of me... it's 'mom'.
No American actually says 'mom' - you all say 'mum' just like the rest of us... so why do you people insist on it being spelt/spelled 'mom'... ?
And while I'm here - you Yanks can stop calling a 'bomb' a 'bum'. It's not a 'bum'... it's a 'BOM' as in 'bomb'.
A tour de force of idiocy . . . i know of no Americans who do not say "Mom," and who pronounce it in any other fashion than "mom."
But the member "herberts" has demonstrated long ago a dedication to false and stupid statements which is breathtaking in its dogged adherence to a ludicrous principle . . .
Actually, I call my mater, mamma, and my pater, daddy.
and my mom didn't say 'maters, she said toMAHtoes. East Virginians are odd, no?
