Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Problematic Prepositions

There are several phrases I use while typing that puzzle me. I am not a grammar expert, though I know my co-author and several AH readers are, so I have some questions.

"Into" VS "in to" - Should you use "in to" in certain cases or always use "into"?

"By" VS "from" - I was given your contact information by/from Christina Watts. Or does that sentence not work at all?

"So" - I realize so is an adverb not a preposition, but is it grammatically correct to use it at the beginning of say a blog post?

3 comments:

Jim Anderson said...

1. "We are in to win." No grammar problem. ("We are into win" makes no sense.)

2. "...by Christina Watts." Or, avoid the passive voice and write, "Christina Watts gave me your information."

3. Depends on how you use it. "So, this one time..." is obnoxious. "So long, Olympia..." is just fine.

Hope that helps.

Ariel said...

I have always had problems with passive voice.

I always want to start posts with "So, I went to..." or something along those lines but that's like starting in the middle of a conversation and truely is annoying. I can't seem to help it though.

It does help though. Oh! Is ending a sentence with "though" okay?

Between you, Mr.A, and Christina I'm sure I get all the answers I need!

Jim Anderson said...

It's okay in non-academic writing. You have to use a comma, though.