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Are prepositions still bad to end a sentence with?

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Question by Stephen
Submitted on 12/4/2003
Related FAQ: The alt.usage.english FAQ
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Are prepositions still bad to end a sentence with?


Answer by Eric Polin
Submitted on 12/12/2003
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In French (my native language) doing so is very bad, very low-class indeed... and extremely rare. Here is why: unlike English, French does not have situation where the meaning radically changes according to the prepositions that follows a verb.
In English, conversely, to look at is not the same as to look for nor after, hence the natural temptation to keep the preposition after the verb, even when the object was before. My opinion is that, for it is a natural consequence of the structure of the language, there can be no justification other than obscurantism to fight against it as a whole. The question should rather be whether to mention the preposition when there is no ambiguity; I guess not: the with in the question I am answering is probably too much, although I must admit, as a non-native speaker, that I find some exotic charm in the oddity.

 

Answer by Tulsa90
Submitted on 1/25/2004
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No, in Modern English, ending a sentence with a preposition is not bad.  Examples of this are as follows:

*What is that all about?
*I don't know what it is for.
*This is a mechanic whom we can count on.
*That's a deep subject which we're getting into.

In other words, if the sentence sounds good and clear and ends with a preposition, then go with it.  Unless your teacher or employer has a hard and fast rule against doing so!

 

Answer by Rocco
Submitted on 3/10/2004
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That is the kind of question up with which I will not put.

 

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