Can you end a sentence with the word about?

Question

I think if more people knew her story, they would better be able to understand what life was and is really like in country that we hear about in the news everyday but hardly know anything about.-I want to say this but Im not sure if I am writing it correctly

Answer 1

Yes you can, but not in your example .........

Ending a sentence or phrase with a prepostion (in your example it is a preposition) is incorrect, but the word "about" is not always used as exactly as a prepostion.

Here's an example:

"I could not wait for the cast to be removed so I could get out and about!"

("out and about" is a slang expression which happens to made from prepositions, but stands on its own........ I think!)

Answer 2

Your sentence is too wordy. I think you can use about at the end, but just not in your example--it needs some help. Also, you don't want to use about twice in the same sentence. Maybe it should be worked as two sentences? Here's another suggestion:

If more people knew her story, they would understand better what life is like in a country they frequently hear about in the news but of which they know very little.

Answer 3

You absolutely 100% may end that sentence with 'about'. Because the word isn't being used as a preposition, there's nothing grammatically wrong with that.

Although the sentence itself is a bit unwieldy and you might consider changing the 'what life was and is really like' in a small way, just as side-advice.

Answer 4

Yes, you can end a sentence with 'about'. 'He tried to explain the problem, but I had no idea what he was talking about.' In your sentence, the fact that you have two 'abouts' makes it a bit clumsy. How about '...what life was and is like in the country that we hear so much of in the news but hardly know anything about'.

Answer 5

Hello Krissy.
I vvould vvord it differently.
I vvould revvord it, keeping the vvords the same as much as possible, thus like this:

I think if more people knevv her story they vvould be better able to understand vvhat life really is and vvas like in [a] country vvhich vve hear about in the nevvs everyday that vve hardly knovv anything of.

Hope that helps. take care.






In seeking vvisdom thou art vvise; in imagining that thou hast attained it - thou art a fool.
-Lord Chesterfield

Answer 6

Technically it's incorrect, the English grammar rule being it's incorrect to end a sentence with a preposition. But conversationally, the correct formulation "....but about which we hardly know anything." usually comes off as pedantic and in a lot of cases can be almost intelligible. I'd just leave it as it is.

Answer 7

I think it is not grammatically correct to end a sentence with "about." That said, sometimes the "correct" form of the sentence is so awkward that it is almost unintelligible. In my line of work (law), grammar is super important (judges hate to read ungrammatical briefs) but you get nowhere if you force the reader to have to read a sentence twice to understand it. Compare

"It was a bad date; Ted and Ann had nothing about which to talk."

"It was a bad date; Ted and Ann had nothing to talk about."

I'd use the latter - it's punchier and more conversational. If the grammar Nazis take me away, so be it.

Answer 8

I think that it sounds like you are trying to fit too much into one sentence. Try breaking it up. "they would better be able to understand what life was and is really like in country" This could probably be better stated as, "They would be able to understand what life is really like in our country better" And the last into its own sentence, "Like the things we see and hear int he news, but really know nothing about."

Answer 9

That's what I was just talking about.

Answer 10

"about" is a preposition and if I have my high school freshman AP english correct (from 1985 - eeek!) - you cannot end a sentence with a preposition.