# Grammar question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2015, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/728944 "2015-08-26T13:41:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/728944/21 "2015-08-28T03:01:03Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > “Same” is redundant there, surely? “Leave it as you found it” or “leave it in the condition in which you found it” both seem better to me. Yes, it’s redundant, but a lot of language is redundant, and it isn’t necessarily useless. We often use redundancy in order to give emphasis, or draw a greater degree of attention to some aspect of the utterance, or to convey affect. Redundancy doesn’t necessarily make language “worse.” ---
**Author:** ![Bones\_Daley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@Bones\_Daley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bones_Daley)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/728944/22 "2015-08-28T09:15:16Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > I’d have to go with “Leave it in the condition you found it in”. Ending a sentence with a preposition? That is grammatical heresy, up with which I will not put. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/728944/23 "2015-08-28T15:27:36Z")
What did you bring me that book to be read to out of from for? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/728944/24 "2015-08-28T20:42:38Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s a false parallel. The sentence is about how you should leave it. It isn’t telling you how you should find it. _Leave it_ is the main part of the sentence and _in the same condition you found it_ is a prepositional phrase. The _in_ at the beginning of the phrase connects it to the main part of the sentence that it is modifying. A second _in_ would be redundant. > > Here’s another example. Suppose you lost your key ring and then found it. You might then say “I found my key ring in the desk drawer.” But you wouldn’t say “I found my key ring in the desk drawer it was in.” But I would say “I left the key ring in the drawer it was in [rather than some other drawer].” So what about “Leave it in the drawer you found it in”? ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/728944/25 "2015-08-29T00:08:51Z")
“Leave it in the drawer you found it in” would mean don’t take it out of the drawer, to me . “Leave in the same drawer you found it in” would imply to me that the object is removed and replaced, in the same drawer in which it was originally found. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2015, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/728944/26 "2015-08-29T12:13:41Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > What did you bring me that book to be read to out of from for? 😃 > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It was in the condition you found it. You’re starting off of the wrong foot here, and your subsequent reasoning is wrong because of it. As mentioned above, this works only if we assume an elision: It was in the condition in which you found it. “You found it” is an independent clause and doesn’t state what is intended. Without additional (possibly implied) words, it’s not a modifier of “condition”. You need an adjective phrase for that, e.g., beginning with a preposition. > [@SigMan](#): > > Leave it as you found it. Best way to say it! > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But you wouldn’t say “I found my key ring in the desk drawer it was in.” Right. Note your preposition “in”, which makes “in the desk drawer” a modifier. Note that you would not say “Leave it you found it.” Here’s the grammatical breakdown. “Leave it.” – the unmodified imperative statement, with implied subject “you”. “Leave it in a condition.” – “in a condition” modifies the verb. “Leave it in the condition you found it” – “you found it” modifies “condition”, but it’s not a grammatically correct modifier, since it’s an independent clause. > [@Bones\_Daley](#): > > Ending a sentence with a preposition? > > That is grammatical heresy, up with which I will not put. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/728944/27 "2015-08-31T03:59:23Z")
> [@Bones\_Daley](#): > > Ending a sentence with a preposition? > > That is grammatical heresy, up with which I will not put. Leave it in the condition you found it in, sweetheart. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2015, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/728944/28 "2015-09-04T04:26:18Z")
From _Li’l Abner:_ Put 'em back! The way they was! Oh, put 'em back the way they was! (Sorry about the mismatched verb.) From _An Officer and a Gentleman:_ You put that back where it belongs… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/728944.md?page=1)