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Hello People,

That is kind of silly, but am tired and just had to be off the wall. Only people can actually read! Duh!

Anyway (notice no s at the end), tonight I am going to delve into at. Where is it at? Where am I at? Are you getting the gist of where I am going? I certainly hope so.

Why is it that people have to both say and write sentences ending with at? As a child, my parents were very careful about how we spoke and wrote. As I was raised in a bilingual household, English/German, my parents and grandparents wanted to make sure we spoke properly and wrote properly whenever we were out in public or were corresponding. This was a great lesson as we learned the different etiquettes required. This difference is sorely missing in our society where we are confronted with academic, business, casual, email, text, social, and social network writing. When we speak, the same is demanded. As a society we need to automatically know the differences and what is expected of each diverse situation.

Now back to at! It is not always wrong to end a sentence with a preposition, but at takes the cake. Here is a way my mother used to help us stop using at, at the end of a sentence. If we said it, she would answer the question, but not with the answer we wanted. She would say "Between the a and the t." We would then properly state the question or if a statement, rephrase it. Then we were rewarded with a smile and an answer or continued conversation.

Perhaps we should start having more fun with our words and how we administer corrections.

Just more food for thought. I would like to leave you with your thinking critically about how you switch between different communication styles.

Have a lovely evening,

Uber Professor