Grammar for Geezers / Grammar mistakes / Ending a sentence with a preposition / Dangling participle

I want to share with you another positive aspect of growing older. I had a wonderful high school English teacher named Mr. Potter. He knew his stuff, he was funny, and he set a high standard for us. I didn't meet all the standards all the time. Somehow, during my education, I missed any instruction on the rules of grammar. I don’t know anybody today who doesn’t know how to diagram a sentence except me. What was I doing the day they covered that? Could I have been transfixed by Cynthia? Mr. Potter had a series of grammatical failings that he called skull and crossbones errors. If you had a skull and crossbones error in your paper, you flunked! Just one got you an F. Three that bedeviled me were ending a sentence with a preposition, dangling participles, and split infinitives. Part of my problem was that I didn’t even know what a preposition, participle, or infinitive was… so how could I possibly know if they were dangling or split? The other day, something popped up to remind me of my failings, and I decided it was not too late to figure it all out. As I began my research, I discovered yet another plus about growing older. Two of the three skull and crossbones errors are now accepted for the most part (never for my sister and her lifelong friend Janet… both English teachers). So, I feel forgiven. I’m thinking about appealing the grade Potter gave me. Ending a sentence with a preposition was on shaky ground even back then. We laughed at a redrafting of a sentence attributed to Winston Churchill when he challenged the rule by saying, “This is something up with which I will not put.” When at a delightful gathering and you are asked, “Where are you from?” Did it ever occur to you to say, “Did you mean “from where are you?” Likewise, the split infinitive made famous by Star Trek… “to boldly go” should be “to go boldly.” Could it possibly matter if you say, “to quickly run” instead of “to run quickly”? Not now, anyway. It’s acceptable. Except to… well, you know who… Sally and Janet. Dangling participles, well, that’s another matter. I’m not sure it is even worthy of inclusion because it is obviously just lousy, confusing writing. And the technical explanation is beyond understanding. Let me skip all of that. Would you ever say, “Running down the street, the car hit me”? No. That’s confusing, suggesting that the car was running, not you. Now I’m not sure what’s dangling and what’s a participle, but anybody I know would say, “The car hit me while I was running down the street.” We don’t need a rule for that. Well, that’s it. I can’t imagine that this is helpful to anybody but me. Two of my skull and crossbones errors are okay today, and the third never really was a problem. I feel vindicated, but I’m certainly not going to share my thoughts with my sister. I am still capable of egregious, baffling errors that only she could catch… or unfortunately probably many of you. Maybe we could meet later… have a beer… and diagram sentences together.