More putting
(Yes, the below post was getting a little long).
Consider these sentences:
- The US will put an end/halt/stop to terrorism.
- The US will put terrorism to an end/halt/stop.
And the passive versions:
- Terrorism will be put an end/halt/stop to.
- An end/halt/stop will be put to terrorism.
- Terrorism will be put to an end/halt/stop.
- *An end/halt/stop will be put terrorism to.
I hope you said “guh” to that last sentence. Even if you found some of the other passives eminently awkward (your high school English teacher would have scrawled “awkward” on your forehead for using “terrorism was put an end to”), the last one is far and away the most horrible sentence of the bunch. What’s up with that?