LEND ME YOUR EAR: BRITISH CONSIDER THEIR DIFFERENCES JOLLY GOOD

My obsession with the use of prepositions is no longer news to readers. Requests for a column on the distinction between prepositions and conjunctions, however, open the gate to yet another performance about a favorite subject of mine. Admission is free to all who enter here.

A preposition, granted that anyone requires a definition, indicates direction or position, or the relation of one word to another word or words in a sentence. Prepositions have a way of coming in contradictory pairs, and if misused, may result in meanings the exact opposite of what is intended. Familiar to everyone are the opposing pairs "in, out", "off, on", "for, against", "to, from", "up, down", and "through, around or about."

A conjunction is a connecting word used to join words or groups of words, to introduce a clause, or to make comparisons. Among the most often used are "and, but, or, nor, thus, so, and therefore." To add variety, we also make use of "however, nonetheless, moreover, furthermore, besides, neither, nor, either, or, and both."

Misuses of "about" as a conjunction triggered more than one request for what follows. The many meanings of this little rascal are so varied, dictionaries and textbooks settle for examples and leave the parsing up to us. Consider "about to speak", "about town", "about time", "talking about", "running about", "about-face", and "going about one's business."

Note that in none of these expressions is "about" used as a connective. As is so often true in usage, the only way to learn proper idiom is to read widely, listen to the most formidable speakers, and MEMORIZE.

Controversy is ever with us, but none exists in the following examples of offenses against the use of "about":

"We'd like to have your views about children can learn better with computers."

"On Face the Nation, you were talking about Clinton says he will change the whole Congress."

"Today we will tell you about a suspect can't get a lawyer."

In example one, the speaker might have said, "We'd like to have your views about children learning better if they have their own computers." This would have avoided using "about" as a conjunction to introduce a clause, a construction strictly forbidden.

The perpetrator of example two might better have said, "On Face the Nation, you told us Clinton claims he is about to change the whole Congress." For Clinton, of course, "about to" has little meaning, because by now he must know he will perform yet another about-face.

Example three poses two problems, though the insertion of a single word serves to correct both: Today we will tell you about a suspect who can't get a lawyer." Why more and more communicators are omitting necessary referents is beyond me, though it may be because "that" can often be omitted when used to introduce a clause.

This is hardly news to our readers, but the misuse of prepositions has been steady ever since English was established as an official language. For a recent example, a newsman favored us with a comment about the danger of exposure to lead paint. Speaking over TV, he stated that "all of us are not affected to lead paint." No one is affected "to" (or has an affection for) poisonous paint. The announcer meant that not everyone is affected "by" lead paint.

Some time ago, an elderly woman who had lost a sailor friend at sea years earlier opened a museum of artifacts retrieved from his sunken ship.

"I thought this was the best tribute I could do to him," the sailor's "mate" reflected. Surely his long-ago friend had no thought of doing anything "to" him at this late date; her sole (or soul) desire was to do something "for" him. What a difference one little preposition can make!

On the subject of differences, "different from" and "different than" have furnished grist for the mills of English teachers from the beginning. In America, "different from" is the way to go, with "different than" acceptable only in constructions such as "His lecture was different than I expected." In this instance, "than" is preferred because it's less clumsy than "different from what I expected."

To the dismay of our grammarians, the British consider "different than" jolly good. Even "different to" is widely used across the Atlantic. And that is where this humble Anglophile comes to a parting of the waves.

Aileen Lorberg is an author, turned columnist for the Southeast Missourian.