Missouri Land

Missouri Land

This is my personal plea as a writer in support of the little words in our language -- prepositions. Don't leave them out, please. They may be little words, but they have a big impact on our intelligent use of the English language, both spoken and written.

I just spent some time roaming around the Internet looking for discussions about prepositions, those little words in the English language (well, all languages use them in some form, really) that indicate relationships between words and phrases. I'll bet you know the words I mean: "at," "by," "of," "about," "from," "for," "with," etc.

Most native English speakers have few problems understanding prepositions and preposition usage. Native speakers of the language begin to understand from an early age how different words relate to each other, so they quickly learn to pick the correct preposition to indicate those word or phrase relationships. But I recently ran onto several forums for English as a Second Language (ESL) students. If you look around such forums, you may be amazed at how difficult it is for non-native speakers of English to get preposition usage right.

But, really, how much does it matter whether you're off just a little on the correct preposition. They're "little" words, mostly, so how much difference can the right or wrong preposition make? Let me give you a simple exercise to illustrate how important it can be to use the correct preposition in a phrase. Take the phrase "land for sale Branson" as an example. (I live near Branson, Missouri, that country music mecca which now vies with Nashville, Tennessee, as the cultural universe of country music. I recently saw this phrase used exactly as quoted in an online ad about Branson.)

As you can see, some preposition is needed between "sale" and "Branson." Think about what prepositions might be used in the phrase. What would you use, and how much difference would Your Choice make to the meaning of the ad? Let's look at some examples of how using different prepositions would change the ad:

"Land for sale IN Branson" -- Clearly, the land being sold is located in the city of Branson if you use this preposition.

"Land for sale BY Branson" -- Maybe the land is in Branson; maybe it's not. It appears to be owned by the city of Branson and the city wants to sell it. Or -- does the "by" mean "along side, beside, near" Branson and refer simply to the location of the land?

"Land for sale FROM Branson" -- This preposition is really ambiguous, isn't it? Does this mean the land is owned by someone who lives in Branson and wants to sell it, but the land itself is nowhere near Branson? It might.

The lesson we learn from the Branson ad appears to be clear: Be careful to use prepositions when you need them, and please be careful to use the correct preposition when you use one. Oh, and if you're wondering, I never clicked on that ad so I have no idea which preposition usage is correct regarding that Branson Land Sale.

As for any ESL students out there reading this -- good luck, my friends. English can be a tricky and mysterious language to learn. Even the seemingly little words like prepositions can have a big impact on meaning. But I'm sure you're learning that, aren't you?

Gary Speer, former newspaper copy editor and news editor for a major Christian denominational publication, is a freelance writer and marketer who focuses on writing tips and online marketing. Gary offers writing tips at http://www.garyspeer.com, Writing Tips at garyspeer.com, a blog devoted to writing and the writing life. His special love is writing about the life and language of the Old West.

How do you get information about missouri pacific rail road to get info about land useage?

Well..you don't since MoPac no longer exists..

You may wish to try the Union Pacific railroad which gobbled MoPac up...I assume you got MoPac's name off an old outdated land map...

I've seen some land maps in CT that still say New Haven RR or Penn Central - some even the more recent but still pretty much extinct Conrail.... All are fallen flags today..

Missouri Land For Sale - 381 Acre Farm Land For Sale -Vineyard/Winery Potential - VineSmart