The growth of preposition stranding:

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:58 am

The growth of preposition stranding:

DECADE 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s

PER MIL 6.76 6.90 11.54 11.02 11.18 10.94 10.77 15.06 18.08

lolwhites · Post by **lolwhites** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 11:33 am

It goes further back than that:

No traveller returns, puzzles the will;
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of?

It might have died out a bit when it was decided that they were "wrong" (because you can't do it in Latin

) so maybe it's a more of a comeback.

metal56 · Post by **metal56** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 1:04 pm

lolwhites wrote: It might have died out a bit when it was decided that they were "wrong" (because you can't do it in Latin ) so maybe it's a more of a comeback.

Mebbe.

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 12:50 pm

I suspect there is less of a feeling now that formal writing has to differ from educated speech.