re unless there are no "core" benefits for them to be collateral to, or to which they are collateral
I can't help wondering if it's OK to dangle a preposition inside a sentence as long as you don't dangle it at the end of a sentence, as in the sentence above.
Whatever the correct grammatical construction, it sounds more natural to my untutored ear to say:
"There is nothing wrong with "collateral benefits", of course, unless there are no "core" benefits for them to be collateral to."
than to say:
"There is nothing wrong with "collateral benefits", of course, unless there are no "core" benefits to which they are collateral."
The latter may be formally correct within the rules of traditional grammar but it sounds rather stilted and somewhat officious or affected to me.
I confess I am not a student of the matter, but it seems to me contemporary practice in all areas of communication [except, perhaps, academia] has long since moved away from such starchy formalism.
It must be doubly vexing to be a student in a traditional grammar class nowadays. Even those students who learn "sound judgment" from literate parents at home will not learn from that powerfully influential source the more archaic formulations promulgated within the classroom.
To return to our "core benefits/collateral benefits" discussion, themilum, it occurs to me that we are in danger of putting the horse of habit ahead of the cart of clarity in english classes nowadays.
This is not an expert opinion, of course. It is just my untutored opinion, honestly felt and sincerely, albeit somewhat incautiously expressed, at least in this company.
My purpose is not to inflame the sensibilities of those who have a different, and, perhaps, more august opinion. It is simply to exercise my right to express my own opinion, respectfully.
My opinion may be right or wrong, themilum, but it would be wrong to deny me my right, wouldn't you say?
