Merriam-Webster declared this week that ending a sentence with a preposition is no longer a crime against grammar. (Violators have been pardoned and their criminal records expunged.)
It was a silly rule we can do without.
Next up: Restoring AIN’T (i.e., AIN NOT) as perfectly respectful. As in, “I ain’t got no reason to be embarrassed about me grammar.” which Cookie Monster is not allowed to say on Sesame Street.
I must admit, that this is a rule I cannot remember ever encountering at school – in 1970s & early 1980s New Zealand. I have of course encountered it numerous times on the Interwebs since.
According to Merriam-Webster’s Instagram post — which donned the caption, “This is what we’re talking about” — the idea that prepositions shouldn’t end a sentence “came from writers who were trying to align the language with Latin, but there is no reason to suggest ending a sentence with a preposition is wrong.”
My memory of high school Latin was that it was the verb that always went at the end of a sentence. If English isn’t being required to follow that convention (and I see no evidence that it is, or should be), then some other word will have to take that spot – and I see no strong reason to deny it to a preposition – as long as it doesn’t make the sentence ‘feel’ clumsy.
Latin word order is flexible. Verbs can go wherever, depending on what you want to emphasize. Same with subjects (if any) and objects. English word order, on the other hand, is almost always SVO. The odd thing is that some Latin prepositions can be used as post-positions, as in Pax tecum, for instance. So how did that supposed rule get into English?
Yes, my 40yo memory is somewhat imperfect – Wikipedia states: “Latin word order tends to be subject–object–verb; however, other word orders are common.” It seems my memory retained that slight trend, and erased the exceptions. The fact that our classes tended to follow this order when translating English → Latin probably would have exascerbated this bias.
Yes, it’s time for that too. The Rolling Stones have been waiting for decades to restore the original words to their signature song,
(I AIN’T GOT NO) SATISFACTION.
Ah yes. Brings back memories.
I took three years of Latin in high school. By the third year I was the only guy in a class full of equally enthusiastic young women. That is probably why I had a reputation as a Latin lover.
I likewise took three years of Latin at my high school. I really enjoyed it, but it was always my weakest subject – I was okay with the grammar, but quite weak on vocab. I cannot remember the gender-mix of my class however, as the passing decades have largely erased memories of which of my classmates were in which classes with me.
Indeed, another grammatical rule is likely to fall. Potentia ad populum!