this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2025
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Perry Bible Fellowship

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This is a community dedicated to the webcomic known as the Perry Bible Fellowship, created by Nicholas Gurewitch.

https://pbfcomics.com/

https://www.patreon.com/perryfellow

New comics posted whenever they're posted to the site (rarer nowadays but still ongoing). Old comics posted every day until we're caught up

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

The whole "don't end sentences with a preposition" rule is not a real rule in English at all. Some pompous asshats like John Dryden claimed it should be a rule in the 17th century because that's a rule in Latin, and then everyone just repeated the "rule" forever. But notice how English is not Latin and has entirely different grammatical rules? Weird huh? And notice how a phrase like, "That's a policy I can agree with," sounds way more natural and easily understood than, "That's a policy with which I can agree." Both are technically correct, but the former is generally preferred and much more common phrasing among native speakers despite the supposed rule against it. It's up there with "i before e except after c", "never use double negatives", and "don't split infinitives" for English rules that everyone has been told that aren't actually rules at all and that we all break on the reg.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Same with less vs. fewer:

According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage this rule was first introduced in a rather tentative form in 1770, when the grammarian Robert Baker stated that less 'is most commonly used as speaking of a Number; where I should think Fewer would be better'.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

The funny part is that even Latin sometimes use final adpositions. For example, if I were to say "may the force be with you" in Latin, the most natural way to do it would be "sit uis tecum" (literally "be force youwith").

Granted, it is not common, and they're used as postpositions, but still.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

we don't end our sentences with prepositions where I'm from.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

* we don’t end our sentences with prepositions from where I’m

✅ much better

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

As my English teacher once said: "once you know the rules, you're allowed to break them"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Or just go Calvinball on the rules, which is the best way to describe English

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

People who care about grammar, particularly on the internet, live the unfortunate reality of getting upset over something that will never change.