4 ms·

You should never end a sentence with a preposition. The mathematician Paul Halmos loved issues like these and once constructed a sentence that ends in five pre

You should never end a sentence with a preposition. The mathematician Paul Halmos loved issues like these and once constructed a sentence that ends in five prepositions: "What did you want to bring that book that I didn't want to be read to out of up for?"

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
hugh3 15y ago
This is the kind of thing up with which I will not put.
run4yourlives 15y ago
In my mind this "sentence" validates the need for the rule. :-)
- hugh3 15y ago
  Ah, but can you rephrase it using the rule to make it better? "For what did you bring up that book from out of which I did not want to be read?" Not a huge improvement.
  - WiseWeasel 15y ago
    I'd say it's an improvement; unlike the original, I am able to parse your version.
  - hammock 15y ago
    It's a shitty and awkward sentence to begin with (with which to begin), primarily because it unnecessarily uses the passive voice to entangle two ideas that are clearer when approached one at a time in the active voice: I didn't want anyone to read out of that book to me. Why did you want to bring it up? See? Contrary to what is suggested above, the whole thing is MUCH better with the active voice. Note that in the case of "bring up," "up" is an adverb, not a preposition, so I am not ending the second sentence with a preposition.
  - run4yourlives 15y ago
    Why did you bring me this book? I don't want to read it. Speak normally and you don't have an issue. :-)
    - mckoss 15y ago
      Simpler, but with a changed meaning. The original speaker does not want to be read to from the book; he does not contemplate reading it to himself.
  - epo 15y ago
    "I do not want to be read to from that book, why did you bring it?" There is always a better rewrite.
- Groxx 15y ago
  Every language has ways of "legally" abusing it. Individual examples of which do not invalidate the language as a whole. See also http://www.ioccc.org/ http://www.ioccc.org/ .
sesqu 15y ago
I lately lost a preposition It hid, I thought, beneath my chair And angrily I cried, "Perdition! Up from out of in under there." Correctness is my vade mecum, And straggling phrases I abhor, And yet I wondered, "What should he come Up from out of in under for?" -Morris Bishop in the New Yorker, 27th September, 1947
seles 15y ago
I'm trying to parse this but it still doesn't make perfect sense What did you want to bring that book that I didn't want to be read to out of up for
- noonespecial 15y ago
  Its got some idiom in it as well. Try: What did you want to bring that book (that I didn't want to be read to out of) up for?
- anigbrowl 15y ago
  What did you want to bring that book that I didn't want to be read to out of up for?
  - wyclif 15y ago
    It's also a chiasm!

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

hugh3 15y ago

This is the kind of thing up with which I will not put.

run4yourlives 15y ago

In my mind this "sentence" validates the need for the rule. :-)

hugh3 15y ago
Ah, but can you rephrase it using the rule to make it better? "For what did you bring up that book from out of which I did not want to be read?" Not a huge improvement.
- WiseWeasel 15y ago
  I'd say it's an improvement; unlike the original, I am able to parse your version.
- hammock 15y ago
  It's a shitty and awkward sentence to begin with (with which to begin), primarily because it unnecessarily uses the passive voice to entangle two ideas that are clearer when approached one at a time in the active voice: I didn't want anyone to read out of that book to me. Why did you want to bring it up? See? Contrary to what is suggested above, the whole thing is MUCH better with the active voice. Note that in the case of "bring up," "up" is an adverb, not a preposition, so I am not ending the second sentence with a preposition.
- run4yourlives 15y ago
  Why did you bring me this book? I don't want to read it. Speak normally and you don't have an issue. :-)
  - mckoss 15y ago
    Simpler, but with a changed meaning. The original speaker does not want to be read to from the book; he does not contemplate reading it to himself.
- epo 15y ago
  "I do not want to be read to from that book, why did you bring it?" There is always a better rewrite.
Groxx 15y ago
Every language has ways of "legally" abusing it. Individual examples of which do not invalidate the language as a whole. See also http://www.ioccc.org/ http://www.ioccc.org/ .

sesqu 15y ago

I lately lost a preposition It hid, I thought, beneath my chair And angrily I cried, "Perdition! Up from out of in under there." Correctness is my vade mecum, And straggling phrases I abhor, And yet I wondered, "What should he come Up from out of in under for?" -Morris Bishop in the New Yorker, 27th September, 1947

seles 15y ago

I'm trying to parse this but it still doesn't make perfect sense What did you want to bring that book that I didn't want to be read to out of up for

noonespecial 15y ago
Its got some idiom in it as well. Try: What did you want to bring that book (that I didn't want to be read to out of) up for?
anigbrowl 15y ago
What did you want to bring that book that I didn't want to be read to out of up for?
- wyclif 15y ago
  It's also a chiasm!