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Q&A Is it OK to omit the following "grammatical rules" in fiction?

These are both prepositional phrases. Number 1 should be included. Number 2 does not have to be. Below I explain why. A prepositional phrase must consist of a preposition (behind, on, in, under, ...

posted 9y ago by Thomas Myron‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T17:48:58Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/17015
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T04:12:59Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/17015
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T04:12:59Z (about 5 years ago)
These are both prepositional phrases. **Number 1 should be included. Number 2 does not have to be.** Below I explain why.

A prepositional phrase **must** consist of a preposition (behind, on, in, under, around, etc.) _and_ an object (i.e. what the object of the sentence is behind, on, in, etc.)

Sentence number 1 omits the prepositional object 'us.' You need that object. If you read the sentence by itself, you'll see why. What are the chairs behind? Us? The house? The sunset? What?

Sentence number 2 omits the whole phrase, not just the object. "On it" certainly adds explanation, but you can get away without it.

**Summary:** You can omit an entire prepositional phrase. You cannot omit just the object of a prepositional phrase.

That being said, authors can and do take grammatical liberties sometimes. If you feel the sentence would sound better a different way, write it that way.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2015-04-29T17:59:10Z (over 9 years ago)
Original score: 2