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And this just in from Berlin

Posted on by Thornton Sully
25
Sep

Guten Tag, miene Literati

Morgan just sent this dispatch from Berlin.  Wait!…Does that mean he is in Berlin and sent a dispatch from there?  Or does it mean he is Gnome, Alaska, and the dispatch that he sent originated from Berlin?  It is all very confusing.  Wait…what does “it” refer to?  Wait again…Did I just end a sentence with a propositi–oops!–preposition?

But the message is klar–Do not let your participles dangle!

Thanks for this, Morgan…Don’t let your luft waffe.

First, we take Manhattan. THEN WE TAKE BERLIN! (Leonard Cohen)
Thornton Sully

Thorn founded A Word with You Press in 2009, having Jack-Londoned his way across the globe sleeping with whatever country would have him, picking up stray stories along with way. A litter of dog-eared passports that have taken up residence in his sock drawer are a constant temptation, but, having at last discovered paradise, it’s not likely he will stray too far from his adopted city of Prague. He has helped hundreds of writers reach their potential, including best-selling authors and award winners. He is the author of Fire in the Belly: How to write your novel with Purpose and Passion, Almost Avalon, The Boy with a Torn Hat and The Courtesans of God saga, and multiple anthologies.

3 thoughts on “And this just in from Berlin”

  2. diana_SD says:

    I love this. Potentially offensive, but since I’ve been called a grammar Nazi, I appreciate the dark humor.  The only objection is that the schweinhund should have done himself in after accusing the poor man of ending a sentence with a preposition.  That is one of the top ten grammar myths.  It’s a perfectly acceptable part of speech to end a sentence WITH.  Much great literature does so, and style guides will confirm its propriety.  So wag those sentences with preposition tails all you want, if it flows.

    Reply

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