What's Up? Busting the Myth About Ending a Sentence With a Preposition

If I could convince Myth Busters to put science aside for one day and do a show about grammar, I would have the perfect topic for them. I would like to see the biggest grammar myth put to rest—the one that has people believing a sentence should not end with a preposition.

A preposition is a word that links a noun to another word by creating a relationship between them.

For example:
My dog jumped over the fence.

This sentence is about my dog jumping and a fence; the word over creates the relationship between the two. The relationship is important because had I used another proposition, such as near or on, the sentence would have had an entirely different meaning.

I remember some of my English teachers marking my papers wrong whenever I ended a sentence with a preposition; however, I have yet to find a grammar resource that shows this rule to be true. In fact, this seems to have been a long time misconception, because even Winston Churchill mocked the idea in the 1900’s with his famous quote:

That is the type of arrant and pedantry up with which I shall not put.

Since Churchill’s quote proves this topic has been in debate long before I was born, it begs to question how we came to start believing the "rule" in the first place. I suppose it has a lot to do with the function of a preposition—a preposition’s job is to bind two elements together. People like to think that a preposition works like glue, meaning that it has to be placed between two elements to be effective. Instead, we need to think that a preposition works more like a screw, holding two elements together in the way that works best for each situation.

The best writers are mindful of the grammar rules, but they are also clear and concise. When you strive to avoid ending your sentences with a preposition, you end up with wordy sentences, not to mention sentences that are written in a way that one would never speak.

For example:
Clover’s has over 100 types of flowers to choose from.
Clover’s has over 100 types of flowers from which to choose.

Cupcakes are what Laurie is known for.
Cupcakes are for what Laurie is known.

What did you step on?
On what did you step?

While all of the above sentences are correct, the first version is in plain English, and the second version is going out of the way to follow a rule that doesn’t exist. It is better to let your sentence end with a preposition than to muddy-up your message.

While I would like to blindly follow Churchill’s position and avoid being pedantic when it comes to prepositions, there is one situation where we should still be cautious. Because this "rule" is a wide-spread belief, you should be careful when writing a cover letter and resume. You don’t want your potential employer to think you have bad grammar, and because they may be misinformed, I would recommend avoiding the placement of a preposition at the end of any sentence, just to be safe.

If you have any other grammar myths you’d like to have busted, or have any nagging grammar questions, please feel free to contact me through my e-mail at grammarguide@sbcglobal.net.