7/13/2006

One of those days

8 hours = 480 minutes

480 minutes = 28,800 seconds

and I have felt every single one of them tick by.

Well, not yet. Still 2,700 seconds left. (That's 45 minutes.)

Random aside: is "by" a preposition and therefore something with which you should end a sentence? If so, how do you reword "I have felt every single one of them tick by." so as not to end with a preposition?

Discuss.

3 comments:

  1. Trick question right? Aside from being a preposition, By is also:
    an adverb
    an adjective
    a noun
    and an interjection.
    Since the use in this case is not as a preposition, but as an adverb, it is perfectly OK to end the sentence with it. Otherwise you couldn't invite us to stop by.

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  2. Anonymous8:10 PM

    One tick them by every have I felt.

    Sorry, couldn't resist. ;-) You knew someone would do it. Anyway, what I learned in my linguistics class is that the rule about not ending sentences with a preposition is an antiquated rule carried over from Latin in which it was impossible to end a sentence that way. Not sure what made it impossible, exactly. Just that it was. So I say, discard the rule if you don't feel like living up to it. But what do I know?

    Anyway, sorry to hear that the day ticked by so slowly when you just wanted it to hurry up. I have days like that, too. Hope tomorrow's better.

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  3. Dane - Um, yeah. That's it, it was a trick question. :) *ahem* Grammar never really was my thing.

    Caryn - Welcome! (I think this is the first time you've commented, if not, please understand I suffer from name based memory loss and since you're not here for me to talk to and use your name in all my sentences a lot, Caryn, I'm not as likely to remember for a little while. :) ) Like your rewording quite a bit - very much like how I was feeling at the end of the day and, happily, the tomorrow in question (now yesterday) was much better. Thanks!

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