Why can't sentences end in a preposition?

Answer 1

It's simply not so!

For some odd reason John Dryden (in the 17th century) decided that English ought to follow LATIN grammar in all sorts of matters, despite the fact that the languages are structured so differently. This was one of HIS rules.

But start looking at English grammar books and you will find that EVERYONE says it is frequently not only "OK" but positively THE correct usage to place a preposition at the end of a sentence.

Some articles to check out that explain this (and suggest where you ought to avoid it):
The American Heritage® Book of English Usage.
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
1. Grammar: Traditional Rules, Word Order, Agreement, and Case § 50. prepositions -"preposition ending a sentence"
http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/050.html

Maven's Word of the Day
http://randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19991013

And here's one that lists entries from various English grammars --all of which support ending a sentence with a preposition.
http://www.grammartips.homestead.com/prepositions2.html

Answer 2

The word preposition is so named because prepositions naturally recede the position of their objects in a prepositional phrase. Naturally--but not always. There are style manuals that decide what is correct and what is not correct; and these manuals change from year to year. You've probably heard or used most of them: The Elements of Style by Strunk and White, The Chicago Manual of Style, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate Turabian, MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers: academic style for the arts and humanities by the Modern Language Association of America APA style: academic style for the social sciences by the American Psychological Association, Fowler's Modern English Usage, The King's English, The Oxford Style Manual, The BBC News Style Guide, The Times Style and Usage Guide, AP Stylebook, The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage.

The point is that they all say different things. Academic usage suggests one thing, newspaper usage suggests another, technical usage suggests a third. In fact, there are prescriptive (and descriptive) grammars for nearly every genre and profession, and most of us muddle along with the flow.

To properly frame your question, you have to indicate where the sentence is.

Why can't sentences end in a preposition in daily conversation?
Ans. It can. In daily conversation the rules are: whatever works.

Why can't sentences end in a preposition in the newspaper?
Ans. Sometimes they can, sometimes not. It depends on the tone of the column, and how much room there is for grammatical correctness. Newspapers frequently sacrifice grammatical correctness.

Why can't sentences end in a preposition in formal writing?
Ans. They cannot, ever. It is simply grammatically wrong. The trick is to find a way to include the prepositional phrase in a location where it makes sense, or entirely rewrite the sentence to eliminate the preposition.

Context is everything. It helps to have an editor in your pocket, or corner, as the case may be.

It's why editors make the big bucks. Well, it's why editors make any bucks at all.

Answer 3

They can. Formal English expects that a preposition is part of a phrase. The preposition is the start of that phrase so it can not also be the end of sentence.

The problem is that the normal flow of language often wants that preposition on the end.

If you are writing for writing for a literary journal, then make sure you get it right. The rest of us are just fine it. If you know where I'm coming FROM!

Answer 4

Because when you see a preposition, you automatically look for its object--at the end of the sentence, you don't see it. Often, a preposition at the end is superfluous anyway--such as "Where is it at?"

Answer 5

That is something up with which I will not put.