Is it grammatically acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition.

[jamiep]

Please help settle an arguement.

Preposition at the end of a sentence: OK or not.

 

[ysc1230]

Please help settle an arguement.

Preposition at the end of a sentence: OK or not.

I am a student.

I think it depends on the situation.

e.g.
What are you looking for?
it must be ended with preposition "for". Otherwise, the meaning would be different.

Am I right?

 

[Raymott]

Please help settle an arguement.

Preposition at the end of a sentence: OK or not.

Of course it is. Don't you do that in Scotland?

 

[bhaisahab]

Please help settle an arguement.

Preposition at the end of a sentence: OK or not.

Yes.

 

[Rover_KE]

Of course it's OK.

If anybody tries to tell you it's not, ask them if they never say any of the following:

'Come in.'

'Switch the light off.'

'He jumped up and down.'



Rover

 

[M.Andrew]

A guideline: It is correct when the object of the preposition has already been mentioned.

This is what I am looking for. (=looking for this)

What are you looking at? (=looking at what)

Another guideline: It is correct when the object of the preposition is understood, but not mentioned.

A man standing in front of an open car door says, "Get in." (=Get in the car.)

 

[jamiep]

Of course it is. Don't you do that in Scotland?

I do, but my colleague insists it's wrong.

As an example, when I put the question "What country does he come from?" in a reading test, my colleague insisted it must be "From which country does he come?" to be correct.

I'm tearing my hair out to get him to back down. Since we're co-teaching the same stuff we need to agree on tests etc.

 

[emsr2d2]

I thought that over the years we'd come to realise that the whole "can't end a sentence with a preposition" was a myth!

It led to the ironic statement "A preposition is a word that you must never end a sentence with"!

I certainly think it's OK. I would say that the reverse construction makes a sentence more formal, but doesn't make it correct.

Where do you come from?
From where do you come?

Who did you go to the cinema with?
With whom did you go to the cinema?

I would be interested to know if your colleague who says it's incorrect, absolutely always uses the latter form when speaking or writing or if he is only saying that it must be used in learning/exam situations.

 

[suprunp]

NOT A TEACHER

"From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put."
Sir Winston Churchill

 

[Raymott]

I do, but my colleague insists it's wrong.

As an example, when I put the question "What country does he come from?" in a reading test, my colleague insisted it must be "From which country does he come?" to be correct.

I'm tearing my hair out to get him to back down. Since we're co-teaching the same stuff we need to agree on tests etc.

Ask him on what basis he prescribes it to be wrong. Find examples from good British authors; (gutenberg.com) is good for this. Demonstrate to him that almost everyone does it; and then tell him that grammar follows language use, not vice versa, and is not set in stone.
Show him this thread. Tell him to check some opinions of authoritative grammar sites and modern grammar textbooks.

If he is still recalcitrant, there's nothing much you can do.

 

[Rover_KE]

I'm tearing my hair out to get him to back down.

Pick him up on it every time he does it himself, as he's bound to do from time to time.

Rover