Ending Sentences with Prepositions
At some point, nearly every student of English is taught that a writer should not end a sentence with a preposition. And nearly every student is suspicious of this guideline.
The rule probably originating with language teachers trying to align English with Latin. But English isn’t Latin.
Winston Churchill famously stated something like the following about this topic: “This is the sort of <bleeping> nonsense up with which I will not put.”*
Today, many teachers will tell you that ending a sentence with a preposition is not always wrong. Merriam-Webster’s argues that it’s okay to do, despite positing that the prohibition goes back to John Dryden complaining about Ben Johnson’s grammar in 1672. In March of this year, the New York Times even expounded on the “silliness” of the rule.
I’m not sure I’d go as far to say the rule is silly. Like nearly all grammar rules, there is a time and place for both adhering to the guideline and eschewing it.
In complicated sentences, in particular, and in formal writing, avoiding preposition-ending sentences is helpful (or may be required by those in charge):
To what are you referring?
For Whom the Bell Tolls
The boys live nearby us (versus “The boys live nearby”—nearby whom or what?).
She has an attitude of which they do not approve.
However, in everyday language, ending sentences with prepositions sometimes not only sounds better but also is easier to understand:
What are you waiting for?
We have a lot to catch up on (two prepositions at the end—oh, my!).
Don’t forget to log in.
She has an attitude they don’t approve of.
Of course, reworking a sentence is sometimes called for. (See how I ended that sentence!) For the last bullet above, saying, “They don’t approve of her attitude” is much better.
When I told a friend about this November blog/newsletter subject, he joked, “That’s a subject I don’t like to think about.” A cleaner, more succinct way to write that would be “I don’t like to think about that subject.”
Sometimes, though, you shouldn’t even be using a preposition at all:
Where is he at? (Just “Where is he”?)
Where should I send this to? (Just “Where should I send this?” but keep “to” in “Who should I send this to?”)
As always, keep your reader in mind. If your reader would best understand a sentence if it ended in a preposition, go for it.
*There are many variations of Churchill’s exact words and the exact situation to which he was responding.
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And if you feel strongly one way or another about preposition-ending sentences, let me know in the blog comments below.