Wednesday, October 17, 2012

grammar - Preposition stranding: is it possible to remove preposition altogether?

Here is one phrase:





This mayhem is not something to put up with.




Here "put up with" is a complete expression, so I cannot simply drop "with" or "up" from the end.



How about this one, a title for a UI element:





The list to add items to.




Can I drop "to" from the end? Will it still be valid grammar? Will the meaning still be the same?



Similarly:




The dropdown box to select items from.





Can I drop "from" from the above sentence?



Something from a kitchen:




A tray to put fruits on.




Can I just say "A tray to put fruits"? (Yes, I know, a "fruit tray" or a "tray for fruits" would be better, but this is not my question).




Is there a name for this grammar form, where a dangling preposition is dropped?

No comments:

Post a Comment