Re: Dangling prepositions and phrasal verbs.

"I'm going out" not kosher ? Then how should one say ?

What I heard is that in French, normally, you cannot
use a preposition like "avec" (with) without something
following it. For ex:
- Il a rencontré Jean et il est parti avec (not
kosher, but often heard)
- Il a rencontré Jean et il est parti avec lui
(kosher)

But does this apply to inanimate ?
- Il a ramassé le briquet sur la table et est parti
avec (he gathered the lighter on the table and went
away with it)
How should I say if I want "avec" to be followed by
something ? "Avec lui" ? "Avec cela" ? No, won't work.
I just can't imagine another proper way to express it.

So I have to conclude (having no grammar at hand just
now to check) that this rule only applies to "avec" +
animate.

Anyway, I think that "to go out", "to give up" etc may
be considered like proper verbs, even if they are in
two parts. It's even more evident in German: ausgehen
/ er ging aus / er ist ausgegangen; abgeben / er gab
ab / er hat abgegeben. The French translation for "to
go out" and "to give up" are "sortir" and
"abandonner", which you cannot break into smaller
parts (even if it might be possible from an
etymological point of view).



--- Andreas Johansson <andjo@...> wrote:
> I've heard a disturbing number of Englishers claim
> that sentences like "I'm
> going out" are not kosher, on account of violating
> the ban on free-floating
> prepositions. Am I to understand that schools in the
> anglophone world do take
> the trouble to teach student not to end sentences
> with prepositions, but not to
> actually tell prepositions apart from the particles
> of phrasal verbs?!? Or are
> people just being selectively resistant to
> education?
>
>
>      Andreas
>

=====
Philippe Caquant

"High thoughts must have high language." (Aristophanes, Frogs)


		
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