Can a sentence end with a preposition?

[JackWilson]

I went to a "Ye Olde" English high school and I was never taught that a sentence can't end in a preposition.

"Mary fell down."
"The onions are to be chopped up."

In all honesty I'm always willing to learn, so if someone could enlighten me, I'd appreciate it.

[bisonbison]

Yes.

[Georgia Avenue]

In a school assignment / article for NY times - No.
In a piece of fiction/light journalism / yr crappy blog- Sure.

Also depends on what preposition which trying sentence to end with it does are you.

Of,
__GA

[CrazyEyez]

Churchill said it best:
"Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put."

I think that means it's ok. Or at least it should be.

[JackWilson]

[ QUOTE ]
In a school assignment / article for NY times - No.


[/ QUOTE ]

Honestly, this baffles me.

Maybe I should ask for my school fees back? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Johnny Drama]

I think your examples are incorrect because in these sentences, "down" and "up" are used as adverbs, because they have no objects. However, something like "what are you talking about?" is correctly written as "about what are you talking?".

[esad]

http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/050.html

[ QUOTE ]
preposition ending a sentence.

It was John Dryden, the 17th-century poet and dramatist, who first promulgated the doctrine that a preposition may not be used at the end a sentence. Grammarians in the 18th century refined the doctrine, and the rule has since become one of the most venerated maxims of schoolroom grammar. But sentences ending with prepositions can be found in the works of most of the great writers since the Renaissance. In fact, English syntax not only allows but sometimes even requires final placement of the preposition, as in We have much to be thankful for or That depends on what you believe in. Efforts to rewrite such sentences to place the preposition elsewhere can have comical results, as Winston Churchill demonstrated when he objected to the doctrine by saying “This is the sort of English up with which I cannot put.”

Even sticklers for the traditional rule can have no grounds for criticizing sentences such as I don’t know where she will end up or It’s the most curious book I’ve ever run across; in these examples, up and across are adverbs, not prepositions. You can be sure of this because it is impossible to transform these examples into sentences with prepositional phrases. It is simply not grammatical English to say I don’t know up where she will end and It’s the most curious book across which I have ever run.

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[PoBoy321]

[ QUOTE ]
I think your examples are incorrect because in these sentences, "down" and "up" are used as adverbs, because they have no objects. However, something like "what are you talking about?" is correctly written as "about what are you talking?".

[/ QUOTE ]

This man wins.

[poincaraux]

A new student wandering around Harvard University spots a upperclassman.

"Excuse me, but could you tell me where the library's at?"

"Hmmmph. At Harvard, we do not end our sentences with prepositions."

"Oh, sorry! Could you tell me where the library's at, [censored]?"

[acoustix]

[ QUOTE ]
A new student wandering around Harvard University spots a upperclassman.

"Excuse me, but could you tell me where the library's at?"

"Hmmmph. At Harvard, we do not end our sentences with prepositions."

"Oh, sorry! Could you tell me where the library's at, [censored]?"

[/ QUOTE ]

This is from the script for With Honors.