All most people know about prepositions is that you shouldn’t end a sentence with one. But even this rule is not set in stone. Remember Churchill’s famous dig at the pompous wording of a civil servant’s memo: “This is the sort of writing up with which I will not put”? Today, we recognise that good writing is all about effective communication and if, like Churchill’s example, your sentence would jar if it didn’t end with a preposition you can safely disregard this edict.
A preposition is simply a word that links one part of a sentence to another as in “She found the grammar tips helpful in improving her writing.”
The most common problem with prepositions is that we tend to use long-winded ones when shorter versions will do. For instance:
- ‘In the course of’ (during?)
- ‘With a view to’ (to)
- ‘In excess of’ (more than)
- ‘Prior to’ (before)
- ‘In the event of’ (if)
- ‘As a consequence of’ (because of)
As always, if you need any help producing professional, grammatically correct communications for your business, give Mel Silver at Words etc a call on 01923 212048!
