Bonnie Henry: In defense of the all-important 'from'

I miss from. You know, the word “from.” As in, “I come from Alabama with my banjo on my knee.” Or, as in James Jones’ novel, “From Here to Eternity.”

A rose by any other word might smell as sweet. But somehow, “I come Alabama” doesn’t have quite the same rhythm. And would you read a book titled, “Here to Eternity”?

Precisely.

Yet here in America, we seem to have banished “from” from (there is no other preposition that will do here) the phrase, “He graduated from high school.”

Somehow, it is now the norm to declare, “He graduated high school.” As if any self-respecting high school graduate would have uttered such a thing, oh, 30 years ago. Or any high school English teacher would have passed such a student.

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word “from” derives from the Old English “fram, which derives from Old High German, denoting “departure or movement away in time or space.”

Other definitions of “from” also abound, including to specify a starting point, an exclusion, or a source or origin.

But it is that first definition of departure that applies in this instance. You graduated from high school. You departed and/or moved away from it.

Even so, in the last few years, we seem to have moved away from “from.” Naturally, grammarians are all over the board on this, though most seem to stick with the fact that “graduate” is an intransitive verb, so it doesn’t take an object.

OK, before we all start to nod off over all this, you’ve got to admit that for the last few years we’ve been seeing all sorts of publications using the phrase both ways, including this very newspaper.

So be it, though every time I read “graduated high school,” the little hairs on the back of my neck start to rise up. I also have to wonder if a little classism might not be involved here. Billy Bob may have graduated Butcher Holler High School, but surely Parker Hollingsworth the Third would have graduated from Harvard.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Thankfully, “from” seems to have been left at the wayside only when it’s used with that rite of passage known as graduation. Otherwise, we could be noticing its omission in all sorts of song and literature. Examples:

“Do you come blank a land down under?” Men at Work, “Down Under.”

“The robbed that smiles steals something blank the thief.” William Shakespeare, “Othello.”

“If I can stop one heart blank breaking, then I shall not have lived in vain.” Emily Dickinson.

“I’d rather learn blank one bird how to sing than to teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.” e.e. cummings.

“No matter what they take blank me, they can’t take away my dignity.” Whitney Houston, “The Greatest Love of All.”

“What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start blank.” T.S. Eliot.

“Just call on me and I’ll send it along with love blank me to you.” The Beatles, “From Me to You.”

“Day is done. Gone the sun. Blank the lake. Blank the hill. Blank the sky. All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.” Taps, anonymous.

Let’s just hope it’s not taps anytime soon for “from.”