Language Use: Prepositions - Assignment Example

A preposition is a combination of the prefix 'pre', and the word 'position'. 'Pre' means in front of, therefore; prepositions should be placed in front of nouns, noun phrases, verbal nouns, and pronouns (R.I.C. Publications, 2008, p. 32). Tredinnick, however, argues that; “Grammar is not interested in the kind of manners you can enforce with a red pen or a ruler on the knuckles. It is a deeper kind of lore” (Tredinnick, 2008, p. 51). Giving examples from the book, Tredinnick notes that it is appropriate to use prepositions to end and begin sentences so long as it is a good sentence.

One example is; “because of all this rain, we had to stop the game” (Tredinnick, 2008, p.52). The anonymous professor linked the work of the student work to Winston Churchill indicating that he had the same thoughts. In his argument, he noted that these were the exact words of Churchill, “Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put”. Trying to understand this sentence, one can only get the idea that Churchill meant the exact opposite of what the professor was trying to imply.

There is something ‘up with which Churchill will not put’. That something is, ‘ending a sentence with a preposition’ (Zimmer, 2004). If the professor is to comply with the rules of language use, he may have missed the point by attributing Churchill’s words to the student’s wrong use of a preposition. In addition, there is evidence that these comments may have been a misattribution. It is not clear if it is Churchill who said those words. The question, therefore, arises on whether it is worth to comply with the grammar rules, or linguistics can just make a judgment based on good English.