Is a preposition something you should end a sentence with?
Tuesday, October 18, 2005 at 10:37AM Let’s get one thing clear right off: There is a rule against ending a sentence with a preposition. In Latin.
If you don’t speak or write Latin, and prefer standard American or British English, then you can go ahead and put your prepositions at the end of the sentence. The idea that there’s some hard and fast rule against it is just plain wrong. As a general principle, yes, you should avoid ending sentences with prepositions, but there are times when you have to if you want to sound natural.
Which sounds like something someone would actually say, “Where are you off to?” or “To where are you off?” I’ve never heard anyone say “Off I am pissed.” As Winston Churchill is alleged to have said, “That is the sort of English up with which I will not put.” If write or speak like this you insist, sound like Yoda you will. Want that nobody does.
Keep in mind that ending a sentence with a preposition has an informal sound, and avoiding it has a formal sound. Compare these two sentences:
“Who do you want to speak to?”
“To whom do you want to speak?”
Both are perfectly correct and deliver the message perfectly, but the first is casual and conversational, while the second is formal. It’s up to you to choose the form that suits your message best. (And don’t bother sending me e-mails castigating me for using “Who” and not “Whom” in the first sentence. I meant to. It’s acceptable. We’ll discuss it later.)
In short, let your ear be the judge.
I’m not sure where this notion—that there’s an absolute rule against prepositions at the end of sentences—ever came from. Or, if you prefer, from where this notion came. Some have blamed overly prissy grammar teachers. I think it has been passed along through generations of teachers and students with the best intentions but without examination, kind of like how people pass along e-mails like the “Good Times” virus warning, or the one about the kid dying of cancer who’s trying to get in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the biggest collection of business cards so please send him yours and pass this on to everyone in your address book.
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Reader Comments (4)
"Where are you off to?" To is an adverb not a preposition.
“Pissed off.” Off is an adverb not a preposition.
Winnie has a point, however “That is the sort of English up with which I will not put.” and "That is the sort of English which I will not put up with." are both awkward and "I will not put up with that sort of English" is much cleaner and Winnie's example is artificial.
As for “Who do you want to speak to?” and “To whom do you want to speak?”, neither of these really makes the case either way and, in fact, you cloud the issue of using prepositions by tossing in the uncertainties of who versus whom (perhaps an unintended misdirection on your part).
In fact, I believe you hit the nail on the head when you write: "As a general principle, yes, you should avoid ending sentences with prepositions, but there are times when you have to if you want to sound natural." While I don't see any evidence for your assertion that there is such a general principle, perhaps you might consider that there is a difference in the way English is spoken and written with regards to the use of prepositions?
Cheers,
Sean
By my reading of the definitions in The Free Dictionary, both of those usages of "to" are prepositions; what resource did you consult? With an idiomatic phrase like "Pissed off," I'm not sure what part of speech "off" plays, and that seems to me to be straining at gnats.
Regarding Churchill's example--leaving aside the fact that the story is apocryphal--given his way with words, I can easily imagine him saying "That is the sort of English I will not put up with." You seem the sort who is aware that the end of a sentence is the most emphatic position; therefore, if Churchill wanted to emphasize "I will not put up with," then that's where he would have put it. Others might just as easily say it the way you suggest, or find a completely different way to say it.
I know it has been a while since this was posted, but I thought I would add a little comment. I have been told by teachers that there is no hard and fast rule about prepositions coming at the ends of sentences, and at least one of my teachers suggested why we think there is such a rule. He said that the rule has come about to keep people from using prepositions that are unnecessary. For example:
Where are you going to?
Where are you going?
Instead of teaching a vague idea of not using unnecessary prepositions, we get a rule that says do not put them at the end of sentences in an attempt to fix, unsuccessfuly, a completely different problem.
Who knows if it is true? Interesting, though, perhaps.