h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

But the boy could have said

"Daddy, why did you bring up that book, out of which I don't want to be read to?"

and he would have succesfully ended the sentence with only one preposition, and have demonstrated his extraordinary skills in pedantry-on-one's-feet ("poof").

I am having trouble moving the final "to"

Will

I don't normally approve of corporal punishment for children, but perhaps in certain extreme cases it might be the only appropriate response.

awww, what did you have to bring corporal punishment up on here now for?

The correct form merely would have been:

"Daddy, why did you bring up that book, out of which I don't want to be read?"

The last "to" was unneccessary for the sentence to be complete.

Except that one doesn't read a child out of a book. It would presumably be necessary to make the verb active and give it 'you' as the subject: "Daddy, why did you bring up that book, out of which I didn't want you to read to me?"

"... from which..." surely?

(sandwich shirley?)

Surely, commonly, naturally, probably, and idiomatically, yes-- but not necessarily. 'Out of which' may not be the idiomatic thing to say in that context, but as far as I am aware it is not actually forbidden; and I was, after all, attempting to recast a pretty artificial sentence to begin with, without making more changes than necessary.

plaster of paris may have been a better bet

'Plaster of Paris might have been a better bet.'

This is the 'Pedantic and Proud' conversation, after all.