Well, I am certainly a prescriptivist. I'd never end a sentence with a preposition; that's the silliest idea I've ever heard of. On Tue, 2005-02-01 at 22:22, Philip Hart wrote: > On Tue, 1 Feb 2005, Steve Brust wrote: > > > I'd never in a million years have identified Mark as a prescriptivist. > > > > > Perhaps You've never seen > http://www.speakeasy.org/~mamandel/Whom-peeves.html > - note the diaeresis in Ortho... > > Also note that prescriptivism doesn't have the best reputation in some > parts. But consider my hero Fowler - he mocked those who insist on > avoiding simple split infinitives. As in so many things there is a > spectrum - no one on this list would advocate abandoning the distinction > between "it's" and "its" because half the people on the internets have; > I'm happy to end sentences with prepositions if that's where my head is > at. >