In another thread the question, What is worth living for? was asked. If you were to take the position that for was a prepostion in that question, how would you phrase it to avoid the dread violation of the rule up with which Winnie would not put? Note that I am not concerned with the question of whether for *is a prepostion in the question or the differences between prepostions and phrasal verb particles. Usually a sentence with a phrasal verb can be recast, however awkwardly, into a sentence that makes it look as though it were a prepostion, but I can't easily imagine one in this case. Any ideas?

This too obvious rearrangement includes the given words, but still gets at the sense (and I don't like it, but):

For what is life worth living?

It would require that the speaker slightly pause after "what" and stress slightly "what," too.

It's a little longer, but how about

What is there that can make a life worth living?

or minor variations

It's only the prescriptivists who object to a final preposition. Postpreposition all you like, folks, I won't tell a soul ...

I agree with the Captain. Its always good to agree with Captains, saves you from being thrown overboard. But in the spirit of the question, how about:

Life is worth living? For What?

What is worth living for?

How about "What makes life worth living" ?

There's still something that doesn't work about this, IMHO. Perhaps because it's attempting to generalise something that must be personal.

I feel "What makes your life worth living" is better.

Mind you, I haven't read the post that provided the original context yet.


Edit: Apologies for small helping of chopped liver, wofa

So how would we rewrite that '60s hit: "WAR! (Uhhuh!) What is it good for!?"? ( - who did that song, by the way?)

how would we rewrite that '60s hit: "WAR! (Uhhuh!) What is it good for!?"?

We most definitely wouldn't, jj.

who did that song
Edwin Starr, I fink.

Mind you, I haven't read the post that provided the original context yet.

You mean you haven't read musick's brilliantly alphatized "On Pursuit of Liberty' quote thread over on Misc. yet!

Here's the original source. Thought I think Faldage's observation is a worthy query, I don't see how, in the context of this quote, it could structured any other way without diluting the force and impact of the words. We might write the phrase more formally, but I doubt most folks would speak it more formally...even in Don Juan's day, evidently.



"There are four questions of value in life... What is sacred? Of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for, and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is the same. Only love."

--Don Juan DeMarco

Yeah, finally read the source now, Juan.

I reckon "what is worth dying for?" is more difficult to restructure than "what is worth living for?" - as there's no equivalent to "what makes your life worth living?"

"What makes your death worth dying?"

No, there's no reasonable aternative to the two tailing "for"s in your Don Juan DeMarco quote. Although I still think there should be a few "your"s in the quote - this is personal, not abstract. Was the quote originally in another language?

I believe the thread you are refering to, Señor Juan, is in Miscellany, not Q&A Thanks for the merry chase.

Hey, my trailero post turned me into a veteran

my trailero post turned me into a veteran

¡Lala la trailera!