Friday, 12 August 2016

A preposition is something you should never end a sentence with.

A classic from yesterday's Evening Standard:

As historian David Kynaston put it, “social mobility has become one of those motherhood-and-apple-pie causes to which it is almost rude not to sign up”.

Let's gloss over the ghastly Americanism-and-apple-pie and rejoice in the fact that he was trying to be clever and remembered to put the "to" before the "which" but then messed it up right royally at the end. Having dodged the first trap, why not go with "pay lip service" or "pledge support"?

6 comments:

Dinero said...

it would be correct to end with the word to - to sign up to.
Then there would be a total of three tos.

Bayard said...

"Let's gloss over the ghastly Americanism"

Why, is it something up with which you will not put?

Curtis said...

Dinero, no, you can get rid of the first to if it is moved to the end.

"social mobility has become one of those motherhood-and-apple-pie causes which it is almost rude not to sign up to"

Dinero said...

right go it.


But now I read that it is not a rule.

Frank said...

When I'm being pedantic I try to spell somthing wrong in the title just to give other pedants somthing to do.

Or did Muphry's rule strike again? ;-)

By the way, the rule continues: "unless there's nothing else to end it with".

Mark Wadsworth said...

D, I refer you to C's comment

B, correct

F, I think it was Sod's Law :-(