There are some grammar rules out there that are easy to understand, because there is no debate as to whether you should use sale or sell, for example. However, there are other instances that stir up all kinds of controversy, because you have people on both sides of the debate regarding that particular grammar rule. One such example is whether it is appropriate or acceptable to end a sentence in a preposition.
Prepositions, as you may already know, are words usually used to introduce prepositional phrases that provide information about time, place, direction, or something similar. These are the words that tell you that a book is by an author, a car is on the street, and the game is in the bag. Since prepositions are typically followed by these prepositional phrases, most of us were taught in school that sentences should never end in a preposition. This is only partly true.
Some people say that this unofficial rule has only been perpetuated by pedantic grammar elitists and it is not a rule that we all have to follow all the time. In this way, it is similar to maintaining parallel structure in that it is more about writing style and ease of reading. Consider this famous example from Winston Churchill.
“That is the sort of thing up with which I will not put!”
Sounds terribly awkward, right? The sentence has been shifted and modified so that “with” is not the last word. Unfortunately, this makes the sentence harder to understand than if we were to write it like this instead:
“That is the sort of thing I will not put up with!”
Better? That’s what I thought. The same thing can be said about the remarks in the comic strip embedded above. Interestingly, these sentences aren’t technically ending in prepositions. In the strictest of senses, they’re ending in what are known as adverbial particles.
To put up with something is not the same as to put something. As it turns out, the “up with” is technically a part of the (multi-word) verb. Instead of saying, “Up he beat me,” the speaker above could say, “He beat me up.”
Of course, you can still be wrong to end a sentence in a preposition in other scenarios. You can usually catch colloquial uses like the following:
Where you at?
Who are you going with?
Where did you come from?
These may or may not be technically incorrect, but aside from the strictest of grammar pedants, most people will let you get away with saying things like that. What’s your take? Does it bug you when people end a sentence in a preposition? Or is that something up with which you will put?
This is the part of grammar that should just be dropped. Whatever reads best should be the proper way to write it. American English is the hardest language in the world to learn. It is easier to learn Chinese or Japanese than it is to learn proper English.
If it sounds good after I write it then it’s proper to me.
That’s just wrong all the way around. Never mind the preposition at the end–there’s no verb! It should be simply “Where are you?”
With whom are you going? doesn’t sound bad. Nor does From where did you come?
The Churchill example is different, and largely because of the difference between “put” and “put up with” as you mentioned. Or is the difference between “put” and “put up” and not necessarily the “with”? For example, what if Churchill had said “That is the sort of thing with which I will not put up!” Nah. That sounds bad too. Maybe he should have simply said “I will not put up with that sort of thing!” Solves the problem all the way around.
When in doubt, say it differently. 😉
I think it’s best to try not to end a sentence in a preposition. Perhaps sometimes it sounds better because we’re used to it and not necessarily because it is better.
Still, I think sometimes it’s okay to end a sentence in a preposition while at the same time I think it should be avoided where possible. I think “With whom are you going?” sounds fine and is preferable to “Who are you going with?”
All these “Yoda speak” is turning me green and shriveled.