Re: Another preposition question with "on"

On 19 May 2007 23:35:53 -0700, Dominic Bojarski
<dominicbojarski@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On May 20, 6:33 am, "John" <agard2...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
An author wrote "He was born on May 25, 1725."

I changed it to "He was born May 25, 1725."

The author didn't like it, and insisted that I change it back, which I
did.

Which way is better?

--
Remove letters in caps from email address before replying

Six of one, half dozen of the other. Both are perfectly standard and
very common. I don't know whether one is more common than the other.
Maybe the version with "on" predominates in writing, and the version
without "on" predominates in speaking, but that's only a tentative,
and probably unjustified, guess. There may be some regional and age
tendencies as well.

I use the version with "on", but that is purely a matter of personal
taste and habit.

As I commented in another thread, on the UK side of the Atlantic the
"on" is pretty well compulsory. We are exposed to the onless form
through US writing, but it still makes us go "eh?" when we come across
it.
--
On-line canal route planner: http://www.canalplan.org.uk

(Waterways World site of the month, April 2001)
My Reply-To address *is* valid, though likely to die soon
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Another preposition question with "on"
    ... Dominic Bojarski wrote: ... I changed it to "He was born May 25, ... I don't know whether one is more common than the other. ... Maybe the version with "on" predominates in writing, ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Another preposition question with "on"
    ... I changed it to "He was born May 25, ... I don't know whether one is more common than the other. ... Maybe the version with "on" predominates in writing, ... tendencies as well. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Another preposition question with "on"
    ... I don't know whether one is more common than the other. ... Maybe the version with "on" predominates in writing, ... as a character string, and does not ignore short words in this case. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: How to anticipate errors using On Error GoTo
    ... I kinda felt that experience would help me develop a repetoire of common ... This is my first attempt at writing a VB 6 program and I wanted to ...
    (microsoft.public.vb.general.discussion)
  • Re: theres vs there are
    ... There's families out there losing their homes in the mortgage crisis. ... common place and acceptable in informal speaking. ... is now becoming acceptable in formal writing and speaking? ... It seems to be a very common error. ...
    (alt.usage.english)
Loading