Re: preposition

At 10:11 pm -0500 17/3/01, Nik Taylor wrote:
>David Peterson wrote:
>> I say all of these sentences with the preposition first, without exception.
>
>Really?  Then you're the first person I know who does so!
Yes, I only ever in my 62 years met one person who spoke like that - an
English teacher from Scotland.

This was way back in the 1960s.  She would answer a knock on the staff-room
door with "To whom [sic] do you wish to speak?"  The question was almost
invariably met with a look of incomprehension by the pupil & she would have
to 'translate' to "Who do you want to speak to?"
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At 3:38 am -0500 18/3/01, David Peterson wrote:
>In a message dated 3/17/01 7:13:23 PM, fortytwo@GDN.NET writes:
>
[snip]
>Really?  Then you're the first person I know who does so!  Tell me, do
>you say "for whom" or "for who"? >>
>
>"From whom", definitely.
No kidding!  Haven't heard said for the past 40 years in this neck of the wood.

>However, I only say "whom" when it's preceeded by a
>preposition, or used accusatively.
Er - (slightly puzzled) - When else would it even be written, let alone
pronounced?

Ray.



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A mind which thinks at its own expense
will always interfere with language.
                   [J.G. Hamann 1760]
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