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Dana Worley wrote:
>
> Referring to preposition use, Ellen said:
>
> > which we disucss every time, is that it makes for awkward sentence
> > constructions that do not mirror the way people talk.
>
> and she further presented the example:
>
> > "Find the course that you want to add an assistant instructor to."
> > CORRECT: Find the course to which you want to add an assistant instructor.
> > (again, a bit awkward)
>
> I am afraid I would have to vote for the correct usage.
The correct usage is the first sentence above. That is perfectly normal
English, and the proposed "correction" is awkward, unacceptable, bad
writing.
See www.faqs.org, the FAQ for alt.usage.english:
Fowler and nearly every other respected prescriptivist see
NOTHING wrong with ending a clause with a preposition; Fowler
calls it a "superstition". ...
> And, I don't
> think the argument that "it's not the way people talk", can be used.
> Actually, I usually phrase my sentences so that they mirror correct
> grammar, especially when I am conducting training courses or
> having a more formal conversation (in casual talk I'm not as
> militant...). I think it comes from years of writing correctly. It has
> become the mode "in which the old brain thinks". :)
>
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