Hi, Roy!  Recently you wrote in a message to mark lewis:   
      
   ml>  and mine is short enough to make a tagline from ;)   
      
   RW>  and? from?   
      
      
               Good questions, IMHO.  Read on....  :-)   
      
      
      
   RW>  There's also an English grammar rule about using an idiom   
   RW>  at the beginning of a sentence and/or a preposition at the   
   RW>  end of a sentence.   
      
      
               When you & I went to school it was frowned upon to begin a   
   sentence with a co-ordinating conjunction such as "and" or "but" although the   
   writers of magazine ads did.  It was frowned upon to say "It's me" although   
   other kids our own age did.  It was frowned upon to say "Where are you from?"   
   although you may have recognized it as a pickup line at the local tavern   
   shortly thereafter.   
      
               No doubt many students wondered what planet their teachers were   
   on. Chances are these students knew how to speak colloquial English before   
   entering school, however, and it was the teacher's duty to drag them kicking &   
   screaming to the next level by modelling formal usage.  That was the situation   
   in Canada, at any rate... as seen from the other side of the desk later.  ;-)   
      
                In Fidonet, people tend to use informal language because we're   
   all in effect members of the same club.  That's what I'm doing when I say "Hi,   
   Roy" rather than "Hello, Mr. Witt".  That's what I'm doing when I use   
   metaphors such as the one in the first sentence of the previous paragraph...   
   remembering how I enjoyed learning about the equivalent (for example) of "put   
   that in your pipe & smoke it" in French, I understand why some of our readers   
   from the ex-USSR have made a point of encouraging native speakers of English   
   to use them freely.  The "rules" WRT formal & informal usage are a bit   
   different at times.  I think your query about the use of "from" here involves   
   more than just word order, however. As I was about to post this reply I   
   noticed you'd found another example... I'll continue the discussion later with   
   more detail about "from" in particular.  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)