Never End a Sentence with a Preposition:
Everyone knows you shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition. All or most of your English teachers told you. Right?
So, is it true? No, but most people seem to think it’s true.
This rule does apply to Latin, which is where many hard and fast English “rules” come from. Yep, I wrote that sentence on purpose.
Remember, English isn’t Latin.
What’s a Preposition?
A preposition is a word or words that show or create relationships between things.
My daughter’s English teacher once told her to remember preposition by thinking of what can be done to a cloud: you can go over it, under it, around it, though it, toward it, to it, etc.
Think of these little words as having a relationship with time and space. Yeah, I’m working in the science fiction angle.
- space: above, by, under, through, and over;
- time–before, after, and since
The quotation “This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put” is one of the many variations of this sentiment attributed to Winston Churchill. He responded to someone who tried to correct a sentence he wrote, which happened to end with a preposition.
Here’s a random list of common prepositions: of, in, to, for, with, on, at, from, by, about, above, across, beneath, beside, beyond, as, into, like, through, after, over, between, out, against, during, without, before, under, around, among, down, during, except, into, near, off, throughout, till, toward, without, according to, because of, by way of, in addition to, in front of, in place of, in regard to, in spite of, instead of, on account of, out of. Yep, they are handy words.
Here’s the Deal and Some Guidelines:
Yes, you can end a sentence with a preposition; however, like other rules that really aren’t rules, this one can sometimes make a lot of sense. There are occasions when you might be wise to avoid those pesky end of the sentence prepositions.
Examples:
- if you are writing an academic essay,
- a business letter or business report,
- filling out an job application
- interviewing for a job.
In these situations, my advice is to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition. Why? Because most people believe it’s incorrect and will judge you accordingly. In academic writing, professors tend to frown on prepositions at the end of sentences. I’d advise against annoying your professor, unless you like getting your grade lowered.
On the flip side of this advice, convoluted sentences are silly. Look at Churchill’s quotation at the top of the blog post. He’s being ridiculous and sounding foolish to make a point.
A doctor might ask: What did you fall on? Or What did you land on? If she asked, On what did you land? She’d sound snobby and pretentious.
Really, who talks like that? Yes, English professors.
Sometimes prepositions are extraneous to a sentence. If you find extra prepositions, cut those.
An infamous and annoying construction: “Where you at?” makes a bad impression on a lot of people. Not just because the preposition is extraneous, but also because the speaker completely dropped the verb. Turns out, even with the verb, “Where are you at?” the speaker sounds uneducated. In this case, dropping the preposition is best. “Where are you?”
Here are a couple more examples:
- She ran outside of the house. Cut “of” –She ran outside the house.
- Simon sat on top of the roof. Cut “on top of” –Simon sat on the roof.
So, if there are extra prepositions hanging out in a sentence, cut them.
Remember George Orwell’s Advice:
He created six rules for good writing. Number 6 is “Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.”
If you write a barbarous, ridiculous, or awkward sentence to avoid using a preposition, write an easy to understand sentence, even if it ends with a preposition.
The Usual Reminders:
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