Feb 8, 2007

a preposition to end a sentence with

A reader writes,
---- and I recently had a debate regarding the placement of a preposition at the end of a sentence. It's a bit long, but we were curious as to your thoughts (regarding prepositions, language, whatever). Obviously this is far from pressing, but anything you had to contribute would be cool.
"Far from pressing" = blogworthy, always. Moral clarity awaits.

1. There is nothing wrong with placing a preposition at the end of a sentence.
This is simply not a moral issue, nor does it merit linguistic shame. English grammar is not Latin grammar. We can trust Tina Blue on this one:
Even usage handbooks commonly employed in high school and college classrooms (e.g., those published by Harbrace, Little Brown, and Prentice Hall) say quite clearly that it is acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition. The simple truth, as Fowler explains, is that the "preposition" in a phrasal verb is not really a preposition at all, but rather an adverbial particle, and in their attempts to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition, "unskillful handlers of words" commit some real blunders!
2. Anyone who says otherwise can take their snooty, self-righteous pomposity back where it came from.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

What r u talking about? Prepositions at teh nd of sentences izn't where it's at. Im not a snob tho. I has no credentials to speak of.