the right to write right, right? (cont.)
Posted by Bryan
I'm big on not ending a sentence in a preposition.
but i'm just as much an advocate for not going to nauseating lengths to avoid prepositional challenges.
for example, one may be tempted to write:
I didn't want to go out. I was really fed up. I decided to stay in. But I didn't know who to talk to
but writer understands this is prepositionally problematic, so writer attempts to solve the dilemma by puking out something like the following text:
Out is where I didn't want to go. Really fed up with him I was. In is where I decided to stay. But with whom I didn't know to talk.
In this case -- which is alarmingly prevelant, I'm discovering -- free yourself from the shackles of the grammatical law. I am here as an evangelist of creative grace. Don't just reorganize! Re-word altogether! My suggestion:
I didn't want to go because I'd had enough. Even though I didn't know who to talk to, I decided to stay in and work on sentence structure.
thank you for your patience in allowing me this time of instruction. No prepositional phrases were harmed in the construction of this lesson.
August 27, 2003 8:20 AM