Jerry Nixon @Work: Merriam-Webster finally gives me what I have been asking for!

Jerry Nixon on Windows

Monday, July 7, 2014

Merriam-Webster finally gives me what I have been asking for!

Listen, I love the English language as much as the next red-blooded American. A waiter’s improper conjugation and tense use can ruin a message for me, just like it can you. But if there’s any grammatical rule that has forced me to rethink my religious insistence on word choice, it’s this one:

This of course begs the question, does a dictionary editor have the authority to say this with any conclusiveness? I can’t be sure. But I do know that, for some time, I have been thinking exactly what she is saying. Gaudy word rearrangement for the sake of what terminates a sentence feels and sounds just filthy. I have even caught myself trying to sentence-smith away from ending with “too”, which is not a preposition, by switching “she has one, too'’ into “she has one, also” and for what? Nothing. Nothing at all.

Believe it or not, I once had this list memorized:

1. aboard
2. about
3. above
4. across
5. after
6. against
7. along
8. amid
9. among
10. anti
11. around
12. as
13. at
14. before
15. behind
16. below
17. beneath
18. beside
19. besides
20. between
21. beyond
22. but
23. by
24. concerning
25. considering
26. despite
27. down
28. during
29. except
30. excepting
31. excluding
32. following
33. for
34. from
35. in
36. inside
37. into
38. like
39. minus
40. near
41. of
42. off
43. on
44. onto
45. opposite
46. outside
47. over
48. past
49. per
50. plus
51. regarding
52. round
53. save
54. since
55. than
56. through
57. to
58. toward
59. towards
60. under
61. underneath
62. unlike
63. until
64. up
65. upon
66. versus
67. via
68. with
69. within
70. without

Best of luck!