RIP prepositions?

Baggs

Surely one can be sorry for a person? As in pitying their situation/suffering/whatever.

Yes, or I would be sorry for doing something wrong, but sorry about a misfortune that befell someone.

Prepositions are fiends anyway.

*c

Saying you are going to debate someone means you are going to debate a topic (or several) with them. Topis is understood and therefore superfluous.

I just park.

I just grieve.

I agree that "park up" is daft.

Surely one can be sorry for a person? As in pitying their situation/suffering/whatever.

I didn't know the verb to grieve needed a preposition. I'm just grieving. Full stop. Or "period", as Americans say.

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

Also,why 'park up'?

On the other.hand there was a thread a.while back complaining about the unnecessary addition of them. I can only think of two examples off the top of my head - both of which I have since noticed in cooking videos: "cooking out" (as opposed to just "cooking") and "frying off" (rather than just "frying")

But I agree, in some cases the preposition completely changes.the meaning. "Debating Harris"? Who with?

I see exactly what you mean and having been thinking much the same as you. I was reminded about the "debate" example only this morning while listening to the radio.

While I accept that language evolves (sometimes to its detriment), in my opinion when the prepositions are omitted the sentence doesn't make sense.

But we didn’t used to meet with people, so maybe it’s swings and roundabouts?

'Different from' seems to have mutated to 'different to'. We were always taught 'different from' but 'similar to'.