[brendaltc]

Hi,

I found your forum when googling for a place to find assistance with grammar issues. I am trying to discern whether or not the following multiple choice question is grammatically correct:

Of which of the following actions were Samuel's sons guilty?
A. Turning aside after dishonest gain
B. Perverting justice
C. Accepting bribes
D. All of the above

Any assistance anyone might offer would be much appreciated!

Brenda

[lin]

That's not a grammar question, it's to see if we read the thing about Samuel.

(You little cheater):)

[brendaltc]

Ha - you caught me! ;)

Actually, I'm helping author a study guide, and each author is to review the work of another author. My reviewer believed this to be grammatically incorrect and I'm not sure that it's wrong. He provided a suggested re-wording, and it's fine, but I'm still not completely convinced that my original is wrong.

So... I went looking for some experts and landed here.

[Dawnstorm]

I don't see any faulty grammar. What's the criticism?

[brendaltc]

He didn't say - just reworded it in a way that's different but not, IMHO, more grammatically correct.

___________________________________
Samuel's sons were guilty of
A. turning aside after dishonest gain.
B. perverting justice.
C. accepting bribes.
D. All of the above


(I’m sure you’re familiar with Winston Churchill on prepositions: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/churchill.html)
____________________________________
I wasn't sure if he included the Churchill reference as a joke, or because he thought I was going overboard so as not to violate prepositional rules... or exactly what his intention was.

[Dawnstorm]

He didn't say - just reworded it in a way that's different but not, IMHO, more grammatically correct.

___________________________________
Samuel's sons were guilty of
A. turning aside after dishonest gain.
B. perverting justice.
C. accepting bribes.
D. All of the above


(I’m sure you’re familiar with Winston Churchill on prepositions: http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/churchill.html)
____________________________________
I wasn't sure if he included the Churchill reference as a joke, or because he thought I was going overboard so as not to violate prepositional rules... or exactly what his intention was.

Oh, I see.

1. Yes, your sentence is grammatically correct.

2. So would have been: "Which of the following sentences were Samuel's sons guilty of?" (But you might get into problems with traditionalists.)

3. The Churchill quote is common to denounce traditionalist dislike of sentences that end with prepositions. (Churhill's sentence is rather complex; the discussions involve phrasal verbs and adverbial prepositions etc. It's not really important, here.)

4. The re-wording of your sentence doesn't concern the prepositions at all. Your version has a complete question with participial phrases for an answer, whereas the re-worded question has half a sentence that the students are supposed to complete. (There is no sentence that ends with a preposition; Churchill is irrelevant.)

5. I do prefer, stylistically, the reworded option, but having a complete question may fit better with your concept. It's okay to start with the "of which", but I'd prefer to put the "of" to the end to avoid "of which of".

In summary, there's no grammatical mistake concerning prepositions in your original sentence. It's a matter of stylistics. (Both the prepositional issue, and the rewrite.)

[brendaltc]

Thanks! That helps a lot!

I agree that as a stand-alone, stylistically, his is preferable. This question is found in the midst of many other questions, and the feeling of auditory redundancy that comes amidst drill and practice of similarly styled questions puts kids to sleep... so this question kind of helped "mix it up" in the context of the complete document.

Thanks again! I appreciate the perspective!

[lin]

Another good comment on the dread final preposition appears (in one of it's versions) in the movie "Thick As Thieves".

The cops are are rousting some street boyz and one of them says:

Where you coming from?

A cop tells him he's ignorant and shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition like "from".

Street Crime replies: Okay, Where you coming from, mother****er?

[Arash]

This isn't your English homework, is it? :D

[Dawnstorm]

Another good comment on the dread final preposition appears (in one of it's versions) in the movie "Thick As Thieves".

The cops are are rousting some street boyz and one of them says:

Where you coming from?

A cop tells him he's ignorant and shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition like "from".

Street Crime replies: Okay, Where you coming from, mother****er?

Ooh, that's a good one. :D