Herb:

I think one of the key points here would be which of the "odd"
preposition uses also shows up in a given student's speech, and which
only occur in his/her writing -- while I'm in complete agreement with
you about the relationships between normative practices and preposition
use, I think *some* of what I see in student papers is "inorganic," in
the sense that I don't hear students using particular prepositions that
way in speech. Of course, I may just not be noticing it in speech
because it goes by too rapidly (and the habit, in my youth, of standing
too near the loudspeakers at concerts has not done my hearing any good
at all). 

Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University

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