It takes a certain quirkiness to enjoy a lively discussion of the rules of grammar. Copywriters often do, though it’s the sort of pastime that makes honest citizens roll their eyes and leave the room.
Rules of grammar have a good and honorable purpose, but some of them have had their day. Take “Never split an infinitive” and “Never end a sentence with a preposition.”
One of my favorite writers about grammatical matters, Patricia T. O’Conner, addresses both of these old warhorses (and others) in “The Living Dead,” one of many delightful chapters in Woe is I: A Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English. (Available on Amazon or Alibris, I’m sure, though I got mine for a buck at Friends of the San Mateo Library sale and never a dollar better spent.)
The good news is that it’s fine to do both. Common sense rules. The “to” in what most of us think of as an infinitive—to jump, for example—is really not part of it. The verb “jump” is the infinitive, and “to” is sort of like an emcee that tells you the verb is on its way. (Think Ed McMahon.) So, if you want to say, “Dude, I wanted to totally jump on that when I heard about it,” you’re well within your rights.
Onward to prepositional endings. There’s a story, possibly apocryphal, that some pundit told Winston Churchill he shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition. His retort? Something like, “This is nonsense up with which I shall not put.”
So there you go. I will continue to merrily split infinitives when I can no longer restrain myself. As to prepositional endings, though, you will never hear me say is “Where’s he at?”
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