Can we end sentences with prepositions?

[Rollercoaster1]

I apologize to write a few examples because I am told to write/give only one sentence in a single post. I thought it necessary to provide a few examples because the question in the title wasn't enough to clarify what I wanted to know. So, here are a few examples:

1- What are you cutting this paper with?
2- Who are you looking for?
3- What are you looking at?
4- We have never met before.

 

[Raymott]

Yes, there is no reason that you can't end a sentence with a preposition.

 

[Rover_KE]

We tell you to ask only one question per thread — you can post as many related sentences as you need.

Your sentences are perfectly grammatical.

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER

Hello, Rollercoaster:

As the teachers have told you, the answer to your thread title is a resounding YES.

Just in case you missed it, here is the famous comment reportedly made by English statesman Winston Churchill when he ended a sentence with a preposition, and someone changed the sentence in order to correct the "error."

​"This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put."

(I assume that the natural way would be: "This is the sort of nonsense which I will not put up with.")

 

[Rover_KE]

You can end a sentence with five prepositions.

Context: a child is talking to his daddy, who has brought a book upstairs to read him a bedtime story. The child doesn't like the book.

He says 'What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of up for?

 

[YAMATO2201]

What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of up for?

What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of up for?

1) What for = Why

2) that book that I don't like to be read to out of = the direct object of the verb phrase "bring up"

Is this analysis correct?

 

[Raymott]

Or the Australian version with 8, with a bit of licence:
He says 'What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of about down under up for?

 

[YAMATO2201]

What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of about down under up for?

Does "down under" refer to Australia?

 

[Raymott]

Does "down under" refer to Australia?

Yes, it's US slang.

 

[Rover_KE]

It's a British term, too, for Australia and New Zealand.

I know you're all going to ask 'Do Australians and New Zealanders say that we're up over?'

No, they don't.

 

[Raymott]

Really, I've never heard it from a Brit. You live and learn!

No, we don't say "up over" because we know which way up the earth really is, despite most mapmakers.

 

[Raymott]

Oh, that's merely a self-denigratory title to appease northerners. But there's really no reason it shouldn't look like that.

 

[emsr2d2]

The term "down under" has been used to refer to Australia and New Zealand (although if not specified, I would assume Australia) in the UK for as long as I can remember and, no doubt, a lot longer.

 

[Rollercoaster1]

You can end a sentence with five prepositions.

Context: a child is talking to his daddy, who has brought a book upstairs to read him a bedtime story. The child doesn't like the book.

He says 'What did you bring that book that I don't like to be read to out of up for?

Does it 'what did you bring that book up for that I don't like to be read out to' change the meaning?

 

[Rover_KE]

Does [STRIKE]it[/STRIKE] 'What did you bring that book up for that I don't like to be read out to?' change the meaning?

No.

 

[Tdol]

Oh, that's merely a self-denigratory title to appease northerners.

Because appeasement is such a characteristic trait. :-D

 

[J&K Tutoring]

Here's a podcast with a bit of history: http://www.slate.com/articles/podca...can_t_end_a_sentence_with_a_preposition_.html

 

[Skrej]

But there's really no reason it shouldn't look like that.

Behold, Flat Earthers - harken ye now a new cause : magnetic north, yet another conspiracy theory!


But seriously, that map makes my head hurt, and yet I want one.

 

[emsr2d2]

But seriously, that map makes my head hurt, and yet I want one.

You wouldn't believe how long it took me to work out where the UK was on that map!

 

[Raymott]

Behold, Flat Earthers - harken ye now a new cause : magnetic north, yet another conspiracy theory!

You're assuming that there's some logical connection between North and top or up. It's mere convention, not truth.

"The word north is related to the Old High German nord,[SUP][1][/SUP] both descending from the Proto-Indo-European unit *ner-, meaning "left; below" as north is to left when facing the rising sun.[SUP][2][/SUP] Similarly, the other cardinal directions are also related to the sun's position," 'North', Wikipedia.

So, perhaps east should be on top. In any case, there are all sorts of projections. A circumpolar (North) projection has North in the centre.