Riley Clements

Dr. Moore

English 2050

October 21, 2022

The boy practiced to where he could do the jump without falling

At first glance, “The boy practiced to where he could do the jump without falling”

seemed normal and structured. My only complaint was that the “to where” seemed too wordy. I

figured that “The boy practiced to the point where he could do the jump without falling, "or “The

boy practiced so he could do the jump without falling,” sounded much more pleasant to read. It

also makes the most sense as well considering my dictionary sources all lead me to believe that

“to where” only describes a point of location, not a point of progress. Traditionally, there are no

exceptions. However, there are certain phrases that make their way into modern speech called

colloquialisms. Their validation is debatable among the grammar communities. Throughout this

essay, I will focus on the “to where” in the sentence and use my evidence to determine whether it

should be used at all.

The first place I searched for information was the Oxford English Dictionary. The Oxford

English Dictionary describes the definition of the phrase “to where” as a point of position but

finding a definition for “to where” as a point of progress was a challenge. Another popular

dictionary, the Cambridge dictionary doesn't give much of a definition, but it does let us know

that “to where” is a subordinating conjunction. Other subordinating conjunctions that would have

made more sense in the sentence would be "until, so that, and in order that. From this I learned

that there is absolutely no definition for “to where” as a point of progress.

 The only place that gave a definition of “to where” as used in the sentence was Urban

Dictionary. Urban Dictionary describes “to where” as, “an informal expression used to express

that something has changed--usually for the worse--or that situation has developed into a

particular state of affairs.” It goes into detail about how using “to where” in this context is a very

modern way of speaking. It even goes far into describing it as a phrase used for “blue collar”

types. This means for a fact that “to where” in the context given is both regionalism and

colloquialism. It is regionalism because, according to Urban Dictionary, it is heavily used among

the lower class, implying that its use is frequent in low-income areas. This definition also proves

that “to where” is a colloquialism because it has not been used until recently. In fact, during my

search, I attempted to find its use shown in literature with no luck.

To find examples of “to where” being used as a point of progress in literature I scoured

both the National Archives and Records Administration and the Wikipedia Corpus and ended up

empty-handed. However, I did find a forum called English Language Learners where somebody

asked, Is It Correct to Use ‘to Where’ as an Equivalent for ‘in Order to’ or ‘so That’?” While it

was frustrating that it was not an actual literary example, it gave me solid information such as

using “to where” instead of any other subordinating conjunction can lead to a fragmented

sentence. It does not lead to a fragmented sentence in “the boy practiced to where he would do

the jump without falling,” so that does not apply to this structure, leading me to believe that the

only problem with the phrase is that it touches on regionalism and colloquialism. Even still, I

used grammar books to strengthen my case.

The Elements of Style by Trunk and E.B.White was written in 1918 so naturally, I was

not going to get any information on the phrase “to where” because as we learned from Urban

Dictionary, the phrase is modern. I did find that contrary to the Cambridge Dictionary the “to” in
“to where” is a preposition, as it is relating one piece of the sentence to another, while the

“where” is a conjunction. It is not so much that the phrase is being used incorrectly, it’s that it

does not make sense at all because both words cancel each other out. The American Heritage

Book of English Usage describes the word to in addition to the word “where” as unnecessary

when it states, “When it is used to refer to a point of destination, the preposition to is generally

superfluous: Where is she going? Rather than where is she going to (49)?” Even if “where” in

this sentence was being used correctly, the “to” adds nothing to the phrase. However, stating

“The boy practiced where he could do the jump without falling” continues to lack all sense,

proving that the best thing to do in this sentence is to rewrite “to where” as an an actual

subordinating conjunction.

In conclusion, the phrase “to where” could technically be used in a casual setting if it

doesn’t result in a fragmented sentence. However, it is best if it is not used in papers and essays

because of its lack of authenticity. The structure makes no sense as it is being used to describe a

point of progress instead of a location, it is a mix of a preposition and conjunction, and it is not

established in classic English grammar.

 Work Cited

National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration,

https://catalog.archives.gov/

“Corpora: Wikipedia.” English, https://www.english-corpora.org/wiki/.

Strunk, and E.B. White. The Elements of Style, 1918, p. 84.

The American Heritage Book of English Usage, Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1996, p. 49.

McScrotus, Bozo. “To+Where+(It's).” Urban Dictionary, 14 Sept. 2017,

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=to%2Bwhere%2B%28it%27s%29.

“Where.” WHERE | Definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary,

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/where.