Is It Okay To End A Sentence with a Preposition?

[Yavin4]

Some of the "rules" of English grammar that you learned in school were devised by pedants who believed that English was inferior to Latin and should be improved by forcing it onto the Procrustean bed of Latin grammar. But English is descended from an ancestral German dialect, not from Latin, and certain of the rules based on Latin grammar simply do not fit the structure of English.



Often what looks like a preposition in an English sentence is really not a preposition but a part of the verb (the technical term is adverbial particle). Consider these verbs: to put, to put up, to put up with. Obviously these are not the same verbs, and equally obviously the words that look like familiar prepositions are actually a part of each of the last two verbs.



http://grammartips.homestead.com/prepositions1.html

What say you?

[Chan790]

1. Yes, but...a sentence really shouldn't end with the verb.

Not a grammar rule, it's just awkward.

Think about sentence construction. We have two important things, two important words: Subject(noun) and action(verb)...rarely a third or more: the object(a secondary noun). Every other word in a sentence is there to modify (modifiers, adjectives, adverbs) or join(conjunctions) one of those two (or three+) things. Of these, the verb is the most important.

Taking vocabulary out of the equation, how awkward of a sentence is: modifier(subject) subject conjunction direct-object modifier(direct-object) secondary-verb adverb indirect-object modifier, pronoun (of the indirect object) verb.

Every word in that sentence hangs to the verb at the end to define it within the sentence. It's a goddamned mess.

[FloridaJudy]

7. Not really

"I don't want to go out" ends with a verb. It's an infinitive, to be sure, but a verb form nonetheless. Likewise a gerund - "This doesn't bear putting up with!" - can be used.

[Chan790]

9. I did mean a longer sentence.

likewise "Everybody Poops" works as a sentence and is the title of a kid's book, one of my favorite gifts for new parents.

But with those ending verbs in long sentences, the more complex the parsing, the more sub-clauses, the more ideas crammed into that complete but disjointed and complex thought, the more perilous it is.

[Bucky]

15. You hate Yoda

[Brickbat]

2. With my German heritage, it's a requirement.

"I'm going to the store; want to come with?"

[targetpractice]

3. Charlene on "Designing Women" had this to say about that...

"I asked this Northern woman, "Where are y'all from?" And she said, "I'm from a place where we don't end our sentences with prepositions." So I said, "Okay, where are y'all from, bitch?"

[Bucky]

17. I hate it when writers show they don't understand a fairly simple word like "y'all".

I've lived in the South my whole life. I have never yet seen or heard a Southerner use "y'all" as a singular pronoun. It is consistantly used as a pronoun for a plural noun; never othewise.

[pokerfan]

4. Never use a preposition to end a sentence with.

That's what I say.

[kentauros]

5. I'd say it depends on context.

If I'm writing dialogue, and my characters speak like "normal" people, then it's okay. In narration, I don't do this, though I will start a sentence with one, as I did in this sentence ;)

[pink-o]

6. Who in the 21st century would actually converse in such vernacular as this:

"For what am I here?" or "With whom are you going?" English is a fluid language, ever changing and the greatest thing about it is that we can make it up as we go along. Adjectives can now be used instead of adverbs, nouns become verbs all the time, etc. The only rule I subscribe to (to which I subscribe?) is the KISS rule: Keep It Simple, Stupid. A great writing teacher once told me that if you use the perfect verb or noun, you will not need the qualifiers in a sentence: fewer adjectives, adverbs and prepositional phrases (which are merely long adverbs.) So bring out the Thesaurus, it's better to say: "He sped through the hall", instead of "He moved quickly through the hall."

Far as I'm concerned, the other rules are there to be broken.

[Yavin4]

11. "English is a fluid language, ever changing..."

True dat.

[Iggo]

8. Never use a preposition to end a sentence with. These are words to live by. (n/t)

[RedCloud]

10. Fuck yeah! That's just the shit up with which we shall have to put.

[Demoiselle]

12. What are you going on about?

[Avalux]

13. Not unless you can explain what it's for.

Sometimes it's nearly impossible to end a sentence without.

;)

[HopeHoops]

14. What are you askin' for?

:evilgrin:

[Bucky]

16. Is it okay to end a jail sentence with a proposition?

This comment really should be its own copycat thread.

[pokerfan]

22. Reminds me of a Cheers

In an episode of Cheers, Diane dreams that Sam's boorishness has just been an act for the bar patrons; he's actually cultured and erudite. As he plays her a classical piano piece of his own composition, she embraces him and says, "Forget the piano. Let me be the instrument you play on."

Sam's response: "Diane, do you realize you just ended that proposition...with a preposition?"

[dimbear]

18. I repeat myself, but it's impossible. A pre position comes in front of something,

the end of the sentence comes in front of nothing. It would necessarily be, if anything, a postposition.

They're common in German. Gehen sie das bett unter. Go the bed under.

[OriginalGeek]

19. IS there a schnitzel under there?

Because I'd go the bed under for a schnitzel right now. Heck even a nice bratwurst and a crusty loaf of bread and some mustard could me there under.

[timtom]

20. Yeah, but

just don't let it be done in passive voice.

[Recovered Repug]

21. I do know that certain propositions will lead to a sentence.

I still think it was entrapment.

[Odin2005]

23. Yes. English is a Germanic Language. Germanic Languages do wachy things with prepositions.