RIP prepositions?

Witzend

The redundant ‘of’ does irritate me, as in e.g. ‘outside of the town centre.’

That really irritates me too, and the use of of instead of have.

Eg We of got

I have forgotten any "grammar" I was taught at school, but this thread strikes a chord with me! is that grammatically correct..
what really bugs me is,,, me and her.... I was taught to always put the other person first.... when did it change?

all this is said with a smile, as language evolves, so I understand

JamesandJon33

A daughter of a friend thought a preposition was something you got at the doctor’s !

sassysaysso

I guess if prepositions are becoming redundant we won't have to be careful about not ending a sentence with one.

As Churchill put it, ‘This is something up with which I will not put.’ 😂

The redundant ‘of’ does irritate me, as in e.g. ‘outside of the town centre.’

I believe that in the US a number of people fell into a coma .
They began to wake up some 40 years later and when they did the medical staff were struck by the way that they spoke .
It illustrates how a language is dynamic .
My children have laughed at the expressions that I use and been more polite at the ones my parents employed .
I have to admit to disliking the recent one of omitting the article .
I hate it when people "go toilet ."

I live in hope that we are not the last generation of pedants. At a restaurant earlier this week, my DGS (aged 10) opened the menu and immediately found a typo!

Agree with all these, esp debate Harris and park up.

Here’s one that may be dialect: ‘we had beetroot and potato salad to sliced ham’, as opposed to ‘with’

What about off of, as in get off of the bus.

Excited for and reach out make my toes curl.

the thing is, many people do not have the interest, or the intellectual ability, or literacy skills, to grasp much of this.
those who do understand it have always been a minority, i think.
as long as meaning is clear, does it really matter.
i am uncomfortable about excluding swathes of the populace.
it's alright as a kind of abstruse game, bit like chess ?

I don’t think you’d cope in Australia! 😃

Skydancer

I hate "for free" when it just used to be "free".
"Try and" - NO, it's "try to".
Also "disinterested" when people mean uninterested.
We had a very strict English teacher at school. Sadly ours might be the last pedantic generation I fear.

Like language pedants will just evolve. In 50 years time there will be people complaining people are talking about "parking" and not "parking up".

I guess if prepositions are becoming redundant we won't have to be careful about not ending a sentence with one.

I hate "for free" when it just used to be "free".
"Try and" - NO, it's "try to".
Also "disinterested" when people mean uninterested.
We had a very strict English teacher at school. Sadly ours might be the last pedantic generation I fear.

In Cumbria we go t' shops, He's going up t' Street etc. it's a sloppy way of saying 'to'.
(had to smile, just before I hit the 'post' button I realised the auto-text had corrected it to to.)

Where I live (in Essex) so many people appear to have stopped using “the” and “to” so they “go shops” “go Spain” “go Doctors” I cannot bear it, it sounds like gibberish!

re grieving etc, people say to the bereaved, i'm sorry for your loss; that sounds spot on to me.
some of the variations above are american usage, eg meet with; i will write him.
variety is the spice of life.

i agree. i have an irrational dislike of to plate up.
i think it has morphed from a commercial setting, canteen or restaurant catering operation, to the domestic realm.
perhaps through the influence of professional chefs presenting cookery programmes.

Funny. Same thing occurred to me. I thought it had something to do with auto text. Can't stand the phrase 'to plate up'.

JackyB

And one that has confused me in recent years is "sorry for" rather than " sorry about"

Similarly, the use of "excited for" rather than "excited about". As in, "I'm excited for my birthday party".

A daughter of a friend thought a preposition was something you got at the doctor’s !

Baggs

I would be sorry that a misfortune befell somone.

Yes, that works for me, too

And feel sorry for the person to whom it befell.

I would be sorry that a misfortune befell somone.