Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site lsuc.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utcs!lsuc!msb
From: msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Newsgroups: net.nlang
Subject: Re: preposition position
Message-ID: <457@lsuc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 28-Feb-85 23:16:36 EST
Article-I.D.: lsuc.457
Posted: Thu Feb 28 23:16:36 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Mar-85 00:44:16 EST
References: <4039@ucla-cs.ARPA>
Reply-To: msb@lsuc.UUCP (Mark Brader)
Organization: Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto
Lines: 21
Summary: ...and the Guinness Book

> 	"Why did you bring the book i don't like to be read to out of
> from Down Under up for?"

Some past editions of the Guinness Book of World Records have included
a version of the above, listed as "Most Prepositions at End".  Actually
they gave one more, as you'll see in a moment.  Of course the claim that
all these words are prepositions is specious; they CAN be, but aren't
being used that way.  At any rate, some years ago I wrote to them as
follows:

    What did you say that the sentence ending in the most prepositions is
    "What did you bring the book I don't like to be read to from out of
    about Down Under up for?" for?  The preceding sentence has one more.

They said they'd include it in the next British edition, which I didn't
see, but the next American edition dropped the category.

(Then it came back but with "claimed to be the most", without the
potentially recursive improvement, and then it disappeared again!)

Mark Brader