ext_2845 ([identity profile] dacuteturtle.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] javasaurus 2003-10-02 12:12 pm (UTC)

There's an interesting story behind dangling prepositions.

Do you remember sentence diagraming? The people who worked out how to diagram sentences found that their theory worked flawlessly, except for prepositions at the end of the sentence. So, they concluded that every English speaker on the planet was making a mistake, and so their theory then worked correctly. From that time on, it was incorrect to use a preposition at the end of a sentence.

Since then, the English language has largely ignored this imposed rule.

Your example is also a feature of correct English, no matter what the books say. Why? Jane Likes John Kissing Her

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