Ending a sentence with a preposition?

There is no such rule. It’s just something self-righteous prescriptivists have made up.
It’s on par with a forced meme.

From a technical point of view, it’s perfectly possible to move the complement of a preposition somewhere to the front of the sentence and leave the preposition stranded at the end. I think this may even be universally possible in every language of the world.

I think it’s pretty bad manners to end a sentence with a proposition.

@FishGutsDale Why is it bad manners? I understand that passing gas in public is bad manners, burping, yawning, scratching are also bad manners for obvious reasons. But why would ending a sentence with a preposition be considered bad manners?

@gtreyger Slight play on words, i said proposition not preposition.

@FishGutsDale Oops! Didn’t catch that! Nice one!

@gtreyger hahaha. Also welcome!

I believe that to state that it is ‘bad manners’ or ‘forbidden’ is rather harsh.

However it is something that is frowned upon in certain circles. My father always called it a ‘bad habit’.

It is officially grammatically incorrect, or was when I was a freshman in high school. Colloquially, it is perfectly reasonable to end a sentence with a preposition.

As my mother used to say, “I think a preposition is a great thing to end a sentence with!”

@KatawaGrey
The thing is, there exists no “officially” where grammar is concerned. There is no central authority that decides for everyone how they can and cannot talk.
Prescriptivists like to pretend there is any objective right and wrong about language, but they have nothing to base this on.

As much as the purists will have my head for saying this, it’s a fact that the rules of grammar are decided (for lack of a better verb) by the dynamics of the speaker community. Language is not an invented tool, it’s a natural phenomenon that arises and adapts through interaction between large groups of people.

Sentences that end with a preposition look unfinished and awkward. In order to write with clarity, unfinished, awkward sentences should generally be avoided.

@PandoraBoxx
You think so? That’s interesting.

Incidentally, would you say that the second of the following sentences is less awkward than the first, grammatically speaking?

1. “There’s something you should be aware of.”
2. “There’s something you should know.”

This article says the following:

You must never end a sentence with a preposition! How often did you hear this in school? I have good news: you can end a sentence any way you choose to. Ending sentences with prepositions is something I looked into. Thoroughly.

Let’s define a preposition. It’s a connective word that shows the relationship (in terms of time, space, cause, ownership, association, accompaniment, or manner) between a noun (or pronoun) and some other word in the sentence. Think “relationship,” think “position,” when you think “preposition.”

Some of the most commonly used prepositions: about, above, across, after, against, along, amid, among, around, at, before, behind, below, beneath, beside, between, beyond, by, concerning, during, except, for, from, in, inside, into, instead, of, off, on, onto, out, over, past, pending, regarding, respecting, round, since, through, to, toward, under, until, unto, up, upon, with, within, without.

There are rules floating around—causing conflict and consternation—that were never really, truly, official grammar rules. They were often the personal preferences of people who liked to speak out on the subject. People in power. Like your fifth grade teacher or your great-aunt Matilda.

These good people are often the same ones who say (or said) we can never begin a sentence with “and,” “but,” “or,” “also,” or “however.” But they’re mistaken. In both cases, it’s okay if it makes for an easy-to-understand sentence. However, make sure to use such words in very informal communications.

Sometimes using a preposition at the end of a sentence (terminal preposition) is awkward, and sometimes it’s better to use one at the end. For example:

Awkward: It is not easy to know that about which you are thinking.

Natural: It’s not easy to know what you’re thinking about.

Conclusion: If good communication is your goal, just make sure that the sentence is clear for the reader or listener. Don’t become agitated if you create a good sentence that ends with a preposition.

Language is fluid language is fluid language is fluid.

Of course it is. However—

There are different, generally agreed-upon levels of formality in any language. And while I mostly agree with @Fyrius, there’s a big difference between the way in which I speak, the way in which I write on Fluther, and the way I’d write a cover letter.

Is there rule barring use of prepositions at the end of sentences? That’s absurd. Especially in spoken English, it’s often awkward—as Churchill is (possibly) attributed with saying: “That is a rule up with which I will not put.”

Rules of thumb, though, do have a purpose in guiding the writer toward clarity and preciseness, as well as carrying non-trivial cultural weight.

The best thing about English is that it’s so wonderfully descriptive and verbose—so most of the time you can reword a phrase into something more clear.

In @Fyrius’ example above, I think #1 is a more awkward construct than #2. Of course, #1 could be better written “You should be aware of something—” depending on the context.

Do I care about this stuff in day-today writing? Nah. But it is important to think about in formal writing. Ending in a preposition may mean you should rethink your wording.

So, no: No rule that’s worth any salt—but someting to be aware of, at the very least.

As all above have stated, there is no rule against it in the English language. The whole thing started because of a nineteenth century linguist who suggested it would be best if we adopted a few Latin grammatical rules, chiefly the rule that no sentence should ever end with a preposition. For centuries linguists had felt that English should more emulate Latin; in fact the first books on the subject of English grammar were, believe it or not, written in Latin.
One Latin rule that has been adopted is the ridiculous edict that one must never split an infinitive; something that is impossible to do in Latin but makes absolutely no sense to follow in English.

I am from Ohio and apparently this is something that ohioans do. When I moved to Nashville I was made fun of a lot got ending my sentences with ‘to’

such as ‘where are you going to?’ I know it’s extraneous but that is just how I learned to speak. I think the English language is simply a tool for communication and nothing more.

In Kansas every one says, “Where you at?” I never thought anything of it until I went to visit family in Washington State and they laughed at me!

I can’t find the link, but I’m sure I heard this on the Grammar Girl podcast. She said it’s perfectly acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition but, since it does tend to sound kind of clunky, it’s a better idea to rearrange when possible (“There’s something you should be aware of” into “You should be aware of something”) and if the preposition is extraneous, drop it (“Where are you at?” to “Where are you?”).

As a matter of personal preference, the only time it bothers me is when it’s extraneous. And it really only bothers me because I think it sounds hopelessly unintelligent and I have a hard time overcoming that assumption/prejudice, even though I know there are very intelligent people who speak that way.

This is the sort of question to always be stayed away from. Such discussions have frequently caused discord in the crowd that I am amid.

It’s been beaten to death already but I’ll echo those who’ve said that as long as you’re clear there should be no problems. I try to avoid it myself, but sometimes it’s unavoidable (cf. that apocryphal Winston Churchill story: ’... up with which I will not put’).

@MacBean Oh, I know to drop the “at,” but it’s just a habit of speaking here!

Discussions like this are valuable to me because I always learn something new.

When you’re speaking casually, grammar isn’t that important. However, I think it is important to know what is and isn’t correct. You never know when you’re going to need to know how to speak properly in order to give a good impression. You might have to talk to a judge, or have a job interview for a certain kind of position. Who knows? Maybe the Obama’s will come to lunch!

@Val123 Or may be you’ll crash Obamas’ dinner? :-)

@gtreyger LOL! Yup! Bet that couple couldn’t have made it past the first guard if they’d used poor grammar! Excellent point, actually!

For the greater part of my primary and secondary education, I had only the vaguest idea what a preposition was. At one stage I thought it meant almost any word – other than the definite and indefinite articles, and pronouns – that had less than 4 letters. My daughter, on the other hand, when going to the same school, was taught the fourteen (14!) parts of speech and until she left high school could rattle them off.

@bea2345 Um..so what IS a preposition?!

When I next see my daughter I will ask her.

@bea2345 ROFL!! Thanks! (Isn’t it weird to be in a position of asking one of your kids what something is, or to educate you in something?)

Heh heh… my mom received a birthday card that, on the outside had two women, one saying “Where’s your party at?” and the other saying “Don’t end your sentence with a preposition”. On the inside of the card it showed the first women saying “Where’s your party at, bitch?” I lol’ed.

“This is the kind of English up with which i will not put” -Winston Churchill in regards to ending sentences with prepositions.

@Val123
I think @scamp quoted a nicely simple explanation.

“Let’s define a preposition. It’s a connective word that shows the relationship (in terms of time, space, cause, ownership, association, accompaniment, or manner) between a noun (or pronoun) and some other word in the sentence. Think “relationship,” think “position,” when you think “preposition.” ”

Technically I think some of the words on the list that follows that quote shouldn’t be on there. Regarding, concerning and respecting are just verbs, and I think instead is an adverb.
I’d say a preposition is a word, usually short, whose only function it is to describe the relationship something (or someone) has to the rest of the sentence, or to whatever.

Glottopedia describes it as the English type of adposition, which is – translated to layman’s terms – “a [word with practically no meaning of its own] that combines with a [word or group of words describing a person or thing] and indicates [its role in the situation] or [its function in the sentence].”

I’ve also often been told as a kid to think of, for example, a bird and a cage. The bird can be in the cage, it can be on the cage, it can be behind the cage or under the cage or above the cage or next to the cage, and so on.
Of course, for any common understanding of how space-time works, that still leaves out after and during and the like.

Yeah. It’s tricky.

@Fyrius Hey! Sunday’s are supposed to be relaxing! (are the prepositions “to” and “be”??)

@Val123
I leave it entirely up to you when you read the above post.
And you’ve got to be shitting me.

@Fyrius bird can be in the cage,…There is a joke from one of Shakespeare’s plays – it is probably one of the comedies, in which someone remarks that he could, with equal sense, say his lute stands beside the church or that the church stands beside his lute… I wonder if Shakespeare had to learn the parts of speech?

@bea2345
Haha, perhaps he did.