Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Yoshiyuki]

Would anyone kindly help me?
I have been wondering what was that famous cynical statement that Bernard Shaw was supposed to make in order to oppose the belief that a Good English sentence should use a preposition + relative pronoun instead of separating a preposition and a relative pronoun,leaving a preposition at the end of a sentence. I heard he had just tried to show the absurdity of the rule and the result sentence he came up with.
Thank you in advence.

[Lorikeet]

Answered your question in the "Learning English" forum.

[Yoshiyuki]

Thank you very much, Lorikeet, for your quick and precise reply. That really helped me.
I would like to tell you the reason I asked the question. The other day I came across the following sentence and it took me a while to figure out the meaning.

[Lorikeet]

Yes, it is understandable, but a bit awkward. It would be easier to make it an active sentence, like "They are putting up the flags of the countries of which the players are citizens." (If "they" fits in there. If not, can says something like "the people in charge" or "the organizers of the event" or whatever.)

[lotus]

I think commas might help in this case:

The national flags of the countries, of which the players are citizens, are being put up (raised).

But I think the idea of making the sentence active is even better.



--lotus
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War does not make one great --Yoda