I think we all want our writing to sound educated and sophisticated. We might not always speak eloquently, but we try hard to impress when it’s in writing. I know this is especially true from personal experience when teachers get around to report card writing. Suddenly they (we, when I was teaching) take on a voice that almost seems alien. But in general, I think that once we decide to put something into writing, we panic (at times) and start to lose our voice. Suddenly we try to remember all of the grammar rules we can think of from school.
So friends, can you actually end a sentence with a preposition? I know a lot of folks reword their sentences to avoid using a preposition at the end, but is that even necessary? Is that rule even applicable? Can we finally take a deep breath and allow our sentences to end with a preposition?
The rule to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition comes from the 1700s in England (according to Woe is I by Patricia T. O’Conner). As with a lot of grammar rules, this rule allowed people another way to communicate their level of education (perhaps). For maybe hundreds of years, students have been taught that to end in a preposition isn’t formal. I think that a lot of great sentences were probably rewritten by eager students (and eager former students), trying desperately to follow all of the grammar rules. I can maybe see why (maybe) this was a rule if I try (really hard) to understand what a preposition is.
Prepositions
The word itself means position before. Prepositions are functional, and very useful, and they show direction, location, and time (on, to, from, over, at, by, with, under, and many more). They help us to explain things with more clarity (often).
Do you remember School House Rock? They made a video about prepositions (which is worth the time to see). Some examples of prepositions in sentences are, He was on the bus with his friends. She went over the hurtle. It was written by Marx. He came from over there.
What’s the rule?
In my opinion, I think that when grammar is taught, we often freeze and feel a lot of responsibility. So if there’s a book of rules created, we teach that book (there’s no time to research an abstract grammar rule when you’re a teacher!). And that’s how I think we ended up holding onto the rule that you can’t end a sentence with a preposition for so long. It just kept being taught, and thousands of writers continued to follow it after they left school.
Any of the websites that you look at online when you research ending sentences in prepositions say it’s not a rule! Some might try to convince you that ending a sentence in a prepositions is less formal, but it’s not. Friends, stop rewriting those sentences! It was never a good rule, authors never used it, stop teaching this rule, and don’t worry so much about the word your sentence ends on. There’s nothing to worry about. That rule is over. (And I could carry on with sentences ending in prepositions).
The big takeaway here is that grammar changes (and that some rules are made to be broken). We are so fortunate to have the internet and we can research quickly. If you’re not sure, look at multiple sources. In this case—the case of whether or not to end a sentence with a preposition—you will find that you are free. Carry on. End with a preposition if you want to. Throw this old rule out. Don’t get left behind.
And happy writing!
Photo by Ian Barsby on Unsplash