American Grammar Checkup: Old Myths Debunked

With apologies to those who are stricter grammarians than I am, let's lay some of these “rules” to rest once and for all. 

1.  Never use a preposition to end a sentence with. This one’s been around for a long time, and it needs to be given the boot. It appears to come from early grammarians’ attempts to force English to follow the rules of Latin, which it doesn’t. This “rule” is unsupported by most modern grammarians, because blindly following it can lead to some very awkward sentences.

Which would you choose in the examples below?

• For what is it good?
• What is it good for?
  
  

• To whom did you give it?  (Really proper!)
• Whom did you give it to?  (Proper but not so natural.)
• Who did you give it to?  (More natural but not quite so proper.)  
  (For more on who and whom, click here.)
  
  

• That’s something up with which I will not put!  
• That’s something I can't put up with!
  
  

• Of course, you can always choose something like this: I can't put up with that!

2. Remember to never split an infinitive.  An infinitive is a verb preceded by to – to eat, to read, to learn. A split infinitive is one in which to is separated from the verb by one or more words – to hungrily eat, to thoroughly understand. This issue also comes from Latin where splitting the infinitive is impossible: Infinitives in Latin are one word, not two, so they can’t be split.  That type of infinitive is still found in other Romance languages whose root is Latin, such as French, Italian, and Spanish. 

But English is different, and sometimes the emphasis changes when we split an infinitive. And if that’s true in one of your sentences, relax.  If it sounds better, do it.

Do you recognize this one? 

To boldly go
where no one has gone before . 

Sure you do.  But how much energy would be lost by following the split infinitive “rule”?

             To go boldly where no one has gone before. 
             Boldly to go where no one has gone before. 

 Nope.  They just don’t work.  

3.  And don’t begin sentences with a conjunction. Conjunctions are joining words, usually connecting words, phrases, clauses, and separate sentences. Examples include and, but, for, so, yet.

Modern grammarians / writers agree that occasionally we can start a sentence with a conjunction. Occasionally. Let's not overdo it, OK?

The two examples below show how you can create one sentence with "and" in the middle, or two sentences with "and" starting the second one. It's your choice as a writer.

• Beginning sentences with conjunctions is acceptable to most modern writers, and it can be effective if not overdone.
• Beginning sentences with conjunctions is acceptable to most modern writers.  And it can be effective if not overdone.  

I hope this helps you relax when you're writing; these old "rules" need to be laid to rest forever.

As always, I welcome your thoughts!

******************

Please 

Like the post (if you really do).

Share it if you learned, so your connections can learn, too. (No fair keeping all the good stuff just for yourself.)

Comment in the comments section under the post, so you can be seen by my connections. You never know who would be interested in YOU. 

All of these things will help YOU build YOUR network!

***************************

My previous posts can be seen here, and they're easy to find because they're categorized. Just type in a word on the topic you're looking for and see everything I wrote on it.

*****************************

Do the associates in your company look and sound as smart as they are? They would if they could take one of my Brush Up on Your Skills workshops right where they work. If your company hires outside experts to teach any topic to its associates, please share my posts and website with your Human Resources or Training Manager. 

I offer free generic Brush Up on Your Skills workbooks in American grammar, business writing, and interpersonal skills. They show what I teach in my three-hour corporate classes.

Want one? Ask me!