I lately lost a preposition…
I imagine that this little poem won’t appeal to all, but for those who like words here’s something that has stayed in mind years after I heard it for the first time.
I lately lost a preposition
It hid, I thought, beneath my chair
And angrily I cried, “Perdition!
Up from out of in under there.”
Correctness is my vade mecum,
And straggling phrases I abhor,
And yet I wondered, “What should he come
Up from out of in under for?”
Morris Bishop, New Yorker, 1947
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December 10th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I learned this at school too. Slightly different words but same sentiment. “A proposition is a bad word with which to end a sentence – therefore remember
I lately lost a preposition
It hid I thought beneath my chair
And angrily I cried “Perdition,
come up from out of in under there!”
Now correctness is my Vade Mecum
And slovenly phrases I abhor,
But yet I sometimes stand and wonder -
“What should he come up from out of in under for?”