Prepositions

“I’ll bring that to you on tomorrow.”

Adverbs, Common English Blunders, Prepositions

My wife heard this the other day.

Problem:
“Tomorrow” is an adverb, so preceding it with the preposition “on” is incorrect.

Explanation:
“Tomorrow” already tells you when.

For example, the answer to “When will they leave?” could be “They will leave tomorrow.”

In contrast, “Monday” is a proper noun, not an adverb, so the answer to “When will they leave?” could be “They will leave on Monday.”

In other words, the days of the week, which are proper nouns, require the “on” preposition to tell you when, whereas “tomorrow” already tells you when.

Solution:
“I’ll bring that to you tomorrow.”

“It’s the question … posed of Senator Obama …”

Common English Blunders, Prepositions

I heard this yesterday on the Hugh Hewitt talk-radio show.

Problem:
The wrong preposition was used.

Explanation:
The talk-show host was describing a question that Senator Barack Obama received during a recent presidential debate.

The origin of the verb “pose” when it means to baffle, as by a difficult question is the obsolete verb “appose”, which is a variation of the verb “oppose”, used in the sense of the Latin word for to put to.

So, when one poses a question, one poses the question to a person, not of a person.

Unfortunately, “posing of” has become a common English blunder.

Solution:
“It’s the question … posed to Senator Obama …”

“When I was reading up on that, …”

Devolution toward Simpler, Prepositions

I heard this yesterday on an AM-radio gardening show.

Problem:
The two prepositions are overkill.

Explanation:
The prepositions “up” and “on” rarely go together, and this is an example of their NOT belonging together.

The person who spoke “When I was reading up on that, …” was a caller on an AM-radio show about gardening. He was telling the show host that he had been reading about a particular gardening topic.

This gives us the clue: the single preposition “about” should replace the two prepositions “up on” in the sentence.

I believe that the caller’s replacement of “about” with “up on” is consistent with my “Devolution toward Simpler” hypothesis. It’s simpler to say “up on” than to say “about” because the “n” in “on” can be said quickly whereas the “t” in “about” must be held longer for recognition by the listener.

Solution:
“When I was reading about that, …”