"took off my shirt" or "took my shirt off"

[post]

Hi
I have heard that it's grammatically wrong to us propositions at the end of a sentence. Does it mean that I have to or I should prefer the second following sentence as opposed to first:
I took my shirt off.
I took off my shirt.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Hi
I have heard that it's grammatically wrong to us prepositions at the ends of [STRIKE]a[/STRIKE] sentences. Does it mean that I have to or I should prefer the second following sentence as opposed to first?:
I took my shirt off.
I took off my shirt.

It's fine in your examples. It's like:

- She looked up his number. / She looked his number up.

- He drank down the medicine. / He drank the medicine down.

- They brought in the groceries. / They brought the groceries in.

- She turned on the radio. / She turned the radio on.

In general, most people will accept prepositions at the ends of sentences. (Propositions, too!)

 

[GoesStation]

I have heard that it's not grammatically wrong to use prepositions at the end of a sentence.

I've fixed that for you. Some dusty grammarians used to tell people not to end sentences with prepositions. The idea is and always has been nonsense.

 

[Tarheel]

Hi
I have heard that it's grammatically wrong to us propositions at the end of a sentence. Does it mean that I have to or I should prefer the second following sentence as opposed to first:
I took my shirt off.
I took off my shirt.

Regardless of that "rule" the phrase "took off" is a phrasal verb, and "off" is not a preposition there.

 

[Tarheel]

If they get a kick out of doing that, fine.

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER

My source, which is respected by many teachers and students, says that often when a preposition (or "particle") is placed at the end of the sentence, the preposition/particle is being stressed.

Here are his two examples (I have used uppercase letters to show the stress): "He took off his coat." "He took his coat OFF."

I have made up this dialog(ue).

Mona (on the telephone talking with Raul): What did he do with his coat?

Raul: He took off his coat.

Mona: What did you say? I couldn't hear you because of a passing ambulance with its siren blaring.

Raul: I SAID he took his coat OFF.


-- L.G. Alexander, Longman English Grammar (1988), page 156. Hopefully, you can find a newer edition. In the Index, look for "phrasal verbs" for complete information on this topic.

 

[Tarheel]

In my opinion "he/ she took ____ _____ off" is the default setting for this separable phrasal verb, with no particular emphasis on any word. There can be exceptions, as noted.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

If they get a kick out of doing that, fine.

It beats asking people if they want fries with that.

 

[Skrej]

Hi
I have heard that it's grammatically wrong to us propositions at the end of a sentence. Does it mean that I have to or I should prefer the second following sentence as opposed to first:
I took my shirt off.
I took off my shirt.

Sometimes, it might be unavoidable, without rewriting the sentence. As has already been mentioned 'take off' is a phrasal verb. More specifically, it's what's referred to as a separable phrasal verb - meaning you have the option to put the object between the verb and the preposition/particle.

However, if that object happens to be a pronoun, you HAVE to put the pronoun in the middle, leaving you no choice but to either end the sentence with the preposition, or completely change it.

I took off my shirt.:tick:
I took my shirt off.:tick:
I took it off.:tick:
[STRIKE]I took off it.[/STRIKE] :cross:


Also - how to avoid ending with a preposition.

 

[Phaedrus]

Interestingly, when a particle in a phrasal verb is moved to the front of a relative clause, the relative clause becomes less than fully grammatical:

Where is the shirt I just took off?
*? Where is the shirt off which I just took?