Monday, November 24, 2008

Dear Grammar Police,

I confess that tonight, while preaching the sermon posted below, I came up to the sentence that mentions "from where we have come" and, in the moment, decided it sounded too stuffy.  That's right, I intentionally ended a sentence with "from" so that I would sound more approachable from the pulpit.  "We remember where we have come from," I said.  (sigh)  I plead guilty to dumbing down my grammar so people would like me better, and doing so in a public speaking position.  Dangling participles, here I come.  

So sorry.

I don't think anyone noticed (or if they did, they didn't mention it).  The sermon was a home run, by all accounts (especially since 2/3 of the people were from other faith communities and so don't hear me preach all the time!), so perhaps I can be forgiven just this once?

6 comments:

  1. Actually, my English professor friends all agree that the whole 'no sentence ending with proposition' rule is not, in fact, a rule any more.

    It can be clumsy at times, but at others actually strengthens the sentence (a quick spin around a google search confirms this.) (The 'don't do it' rule just takes the guesswork out--you don't have to figure out if it's okay or not!) Several sources say that the rule is 'don't end a sentence with a preposition when there is a more elegant alternative.'

    Of course, elegant is so subjective....

    I say you're forgiven, or exempt, or whatever...

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  2. I find this hard now, too, since some sentences when spoken sound needlessly formal if we abide by the rule. I feel your pain!

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  3. Spoken English need not follow all of the stuffy rules of formal written English. No need to beat yourself up--you're still grammatical! I grant you my official approval!

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