Entry #672699, added on 12-30-09 @ 9:10 pm EST
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| Issue 5: Conjunction & Preposition Taboos...Nope (Jace) | Entry #672699 |
Guest Editor: Jace  
October 21, 2009
 About This Newsletter
Show of hands--how many of you have a grammar book next to your dictionary and Thesaurus? I do, and it's saved my bacon often. Currently, I'm enamored with a book by Anne Stilman called Grammatically Correct, published by Writer's Digest Books. I have the paperback version; it's a joy to read and easy to understand. Check it out.
Letter from the Editor
I joined WDC a little less than eighteen months ago and began reviewing fellow authors almost immediately. To be sure, I didn't know if what I was doing was proper, or even correct. I did know two things: I knew what I liked about an offering emotionally, but I wasn't sure about the technical aspects of it. Get smart on the grammar and punctuation, Jace, I told myself. College was more than 25 years ago. I used reviewing to sharpen my grammar skills.
One thing every reviewer should reflect upon is the need to give accurate information to those he or she reviews. While the emotional response is subjective, the technical aspects are often more objective. Research is the key, and in turn, your reviews will make you a better writer.
Grammar Conundrum
Common Sense and Grammar
Strange bedfellows, perhaps. But if there's one thing we find about the English language--it's often strange.
Take my previous sentence, for example. Many people would tell me not to begin a sentence with a conjunction. For the most part, I would agree. In fact, let's discuss two taboos that really aren't: Beginning a sentence with a conjunction, and ending a sentence with a preposition.
"And there was light."
Simply put, conjunctions are connectors between two distinct thoughts. For example,
John used the prompt and wrote a story.
Such words normally go within a sentence rather than the beginning since they act to link one element with another. Starting a sentence with a conjunction often creates a fragment.
Try to catch me. If you can.
Experienced writers use such fragments effectively for communicating an idea providing this is not overdone. Opening a sentence with a conjunction does not make it grammatically incomplete; it just connects the current topic more strongly to the idea that comes before. Sometimes it's the best way to express the relationship between the two sentences.
Understand what you want to convey. Perhaps rewording your sentence will express your idea in a better way. But don't avoid beginning a sentence with a conjunction just because of principle. 
"This is the sort of English up with which I will not put."
--Winston Churchill, on the notion that one shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition.
A preposition is a word that defines a relationship between other words in a sentence. Many prepositions take an object, and have to do with time, space or position.
Often, we can't see the forest for the trees.
Usually the preposition precedes the object; indeed, the prefix pre- means "before."
Conventional wisdom says that a preposition may never come at the end of a sentence.
Thus,
That's something I cannot deal with. becomes ...
That's something with which I cannot deal.
Stilman says "the origins of this custom lie in Latin, in which a preposition cannot come after its target word." In English, however, the result of ordering such words and phrases this way can sound almost tortured. Not only do they sound bad, but they don't read well either. Which sentence do you like better?
He's not someone with whom we should trifle.
Or....
He's not someone to be trifled with.
Some sentences that follow this accepted convention sound quite elegant:
There are some questions there are no easy answers for.
becomes ...
There are some questions for which there are no easy
answers.
If rewording your sentence to that convention advocated by Mr. Churchill makes it sound more awkward, then leave the preposition at the end. Changing the sentence would not correct it; it would only worsen it.
We all speak this way. I wonder how many times a day I start a sentence with a conjunction or end one with a preposition--it just flows. And I'm seldom corrected.  Why not incorporate that realism in your writing, especially in your dialogue. Again, used sparingly you might find your writing taking a more natural turn.
Common sense--and many reviewers--will let you know if you've over-used these types of sentence construction. The bottom line is you, the writer, must decide what you want to say and the best way to say it.
Editor's Picks
Excerpt: We really like sentences that start with the conjunctions and, but, and or. But we don't like the way most writers do it. Every time you write a sentence that begins with these words, you create a sentence fragment, which is against the rules. However, breaking this rule for the right reason can make your writing more powerful.
A search for 'prepositions' turned up nothing that pertained to this week's column. But you might find this humorous piece interesting.
1334235 | Writing Exercise  [E]
For fun, I used prepositions as verbs and vice versa. Read my attempt and try it yourself!
by Hidden  |
Excerpt: I throughed the wide, large golden fields,
The breeze in-ing my hair blowingly.
Young trees were arounding me growingly
and towardsing the ground green leaves droppingly.
Feedback
As this is my first newsletter, I have no feedback to share. But, I welcome your comments, criticisms, and witticisms on this week's column.
For next week...
Our next issue comes out November 4. The topic is Colons, Semicolons and Comma Splices. Tell all your friends.
Use this survey to send us feedback, suggest a future topic, submit a piece for future editor's picks, or volunteer to guest edit.
As always, past issues of the newsletter are available for viewing in
"Unofficial Grammar Newsletter Archives" [ASR].
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© Copyright 2009 Lorien (UN: thatonegirl at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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