sábado, 25 de marzo de 2023

ENDING SENTENCES WITH PREPOSITIONS AND THE MLA



I was under the impression that the issue of whether it was correct to finish a sentence with a preposition had been settled long ago. I was wrong. Susan Doose, an acute associate editor at MLA, in her "To Dangle or not to Dangle: on Ending a Sentence with a Preposition." (The Source, Updates from the MLA Style Center, 22 March 2023.) She unmercifully flogs a dead horse, reviving and insufflating life into a dead issue. She quotes -oh, how many times has it been quoted- the quip, attributed to Winston Churchill: "That is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I shall not put." I can throw another quotation at Dr. Doose, also attributed to the Prime Minister: "A preposition is a bad word to end a sentence with." The poor dangling preposition has been flogged plenty already, and I think it should be lain to rest. I quote John McWhorter: "Yes. You can end a sentence in a preposition." End of debate. In the meantime, and in my opinion, Ms. Doose should be careful with the use of clichés: "crystal clear, time and again, fall prey to" which sully her otherwise scintillating prose.  

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