Ending Witha Preposition

One of the MythsTaughtByEnglishTeachers?. A non-existent rule of English grammar, forbidding a sentence to end with a preposition.

Invented by pedantic grammarians in the 1700s who thought that Latin had the one, true grammar. In Latin, it really makes no sense to end a sentence with a preposition, since in Latin, prepositions really are pre-positional: they come before the noun they introduce.

English word order is radically different. In English, according to very tricky rules best left unarticulated, prepositions can come before or after the noun: "the preposition he ended with" is just as good as (actually, better than) "the preposition with which he ended".

Also, English has phrasal verbs: verbs that consist of two words, the second of which is a preposition, like pick up, pick out, pick at, pick on, pick off, pick over, pick through, and pick apart (but not pick of as in "pick of the litter"). Causing untold confusion to non-native speakers trying to learn the language, the preposition in a phrasal verb can come way after the verb--after the indirect object, as in "I'll pick you up" [direct object, actually. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a phrasal verb taking an indirect object], even at the end of the sentence. And sometimes there is no indirect object, as in "Let's take off!" Where those befuddled English teachers say to put the preposition in that case, I have no idea.

Well, when 'pick up' is used as a (phrasal) verb, 'up' is being used as an adverb rather than a preposition, and there's no objection to ending a sentence with an adverb. Problem solved.

"That is something up with which I will not put!" --George Bernard Shaw (attr.)

I always heard this attributed to Winston Churchill. The story goes that some stuffy lady "corrected" his grammar, and he replied, "That is the sort of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put!"

From http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/churchill.html :

The alt.english.usage FAQ states that the story originated with an anecdote in Sir Ernest Gowers' Plain Words (1948). Supposedly an editor had clumsily rearranged one of Churchill's sentences to avoid ending it in a preposition, and the Prime Minister, very proud of his style, scribbled this note in reply: 'This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.' The American Heritage Book of English Usage agrees.

The FAQ goes on to say that the Oxford Companion to the English Language (no edition cited) states that the original was 'This is the sort of bloody nonsense up with which I will not put.' To me this sounds more likely, and eagerness to avoid the offensive word 'bloody' would help to explain the proliferation of variations.

[...] Ben Zimmer has presented evidence on the alt.usage.english list that this story was not originally attributed to Churchill at all, but to an anonymous official in an article in The Strand magazine. Since Churchill often contributed to The Strand, Zimmer argues, it would certainly have identified him if he had been the official in question. It is not clear how the anecdote came to be attributed to Churchill by Gowers, but it seems to have circulated independently earlier.

"What was that story where the kid said 'What did you bring that book that I didn't want to be read to out of up for' about?" --rj

...that book I didn't want to be read to out of about Down Under up for?

What was that story which the kid said (etc.) about about? (This suggests that the book the kid is talking about is the book in which the story is written. Oops, I mean the book the story is written in.) -- KarlKnechtel

And from "Live and Let Die" - "...in this ever changing world in which we live in..." Single best piece of evidence that Paul was replaced by a pod person. Q: Why on earth didn't he write "in which we're living"? A: He wasn't on earth at the time. A2: How on earth can you tell he didn't?

Re A2 - Hmm. Had a sudden burst of conscience because it might even have been that. However ... http://www.poplyrics.net/waiguo/paulmccartney/240.htm

And (ignoring prepositions for the minute) should Aretha Franklin have got away with "Who's Zooming Who" ? Surely it's "Who's Zooming Whom" ...

Man visiting Yale/Harvard/Oxford asks for directions:

"Excuse me, sir, could you tell me where the library is at?

(haughty response) "Why, sir, here at Yale/Harvard/Oxford, we never end a sentence with a preposition!"

"Oh, sorry. Could you tell me where the library is at, asshole?"

I've heard this story as two women on a train, one American, one English:

American: "Where ya from?"

English: "I come from a place where we know enough to never end a sentence with a preposition."

American: "Where ya from, bitch?"

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