英语词汇preposition的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

preposition. Although etymologically the word preposition itself means “placed before,” prepositions need not always be placed before their objects in a sentence. Most times they are, but in some instances, a preposition must come after its object and in others the preposition can be placed either before or af- ter the object. There are governing rules, but it is best to rely on the ear in this matter. For example, “What are you sitting on?” sounds a lot better than “On what are you sitting?” The record for the most prepositions strung together at the end of a sen- tence is the protest of a child against an Australian bedtime sto- ry book: “Mommy, what did you bring that book which I didn’t want to be read to out of from about ‘Down Under’ up for?” Angry at a critic who corrected one of his sentences on the ba- sis of the old bromide that a preposition should not end a sen- tence, Winston Churchill wrote to him: “This is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put.” British author Joseph Addison liked to end sentences with prepositions—at least he wrote a good many of them that way—and sentences ending with prepositions are therefore said to have Addisonian termi- nations. Interestingly, Richard Hurd, the testy critic who coined that term, is heard of no more today, while Joseph Addison, dangling prepositions and all, remains a much-read author.

词汇	preposition
词源	preposition. Although etymologically the word preposition itself means “placed before,” prepositions need not always be placed before their objects in a sentence. Most times they are, but in some instances, a preposition must come after its object and in others the preposition can be placed either before or af- ter the object. There are governing rules, but it is best to rely on the ear in this matter. For example, “What are you sitting on?” sounds a lot better than “On what are you sitting?” The record for the most prepositions strung together at the end of a sen- tence is the protest of a child against an Australian bedtime sto- ry book: “Mommy, what did you bring that book which I didn’t want to be read to out of from about ‘Down Under’ up for?” Angry at a critic who corrected one of his sentences on the ba- sis of the old bromide that a preposition should not end a sen- tence, Winston Churchill wrote to him: “This is the kind of nonsense up with which I will not put.” British author Joseph Addison liked to end sentences with prepositions—at least he wrote a good many of them that way—and sentences ending with prepositions are therefore said to have Addisonian termi- nations. Interestingly, Richard Hurd, the testy critic who coined that term, is heard of no more today, while Joseph Addison, dangling prepositions and all, remains a much-read author.
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