“Of” isn’t a participle, it is a preposition. Putting a preposition at the front of the clause helps you avoid using the wrong case, esp. with pronouns. For example, “Who are you giving it to?” should be “To whom are you giving it?” Examples of participles, on the other hand, include “shaken” or “dangling” (they are verbal adjectives). I wouldn’t blame the Latin, but a lot of mistakes do occur when people are trying to avoid the traditional errors in grammar (it is called hypercorrection).
When faced with such prepositional silliness from an editor, Winston Churchill famously wrote back, “This is the sort of impertinence up with which I shall not put!” In fact, there is no such rule.
Ending a sentence with a preposition is not NEARLY as irritating as ending a sentence with an unnecessary preposition. “Where are you going to?” ARGHGHGH
KingRat almost 15 years ago
dangling participles are what happens when people think english should be more like latin.
ejcapulet almost 15 years ago
Trust me (I’m an English teacher) there’s absolutely nothing wrong with a dangling participle if it makes your sentence sound better.
busygrl71 almost 15 years ago
“Of” isn’t a participle, it is a preposition. Putting a preposition at the front of the clause helps you avoid using the wrong case, esp. with pronouns. For example, “Who are you giving it to?” should be “To whom are you giving it?” Examples of participles, on the other hand, include “shaken” or “dangling” (they are verbal adjectives). I wouldn’t blame the Latin, but a lot of mistakes do occur when people are trying to avoid the traditional errors in grammar (it is called hypercorrection).
lfanterickson almost 15 years ago
But it’s so much FUN to sound grammatically superior and silly at the same time by taking the long way around!
stpatme almost 15 years ago
When faced with such prepositional silliness from an editor, Winston Churchill famously wrote back, “This is the sort of impertinence up with which I shall not put!” In fact, there is no such rule.
theshewolf almost 15 years ago
Ending a sentence with a preposition is not NEARLY as irritating as ending a sentence with an unnecessary preposition. “Where are you going to?” ARGHGHGH