Don’t End a Sentence with This Preposition

I’ve mentioned so-called “prepositions” at the end of sentences before, that they are okay because they are part of separable verbs. (A famous example: it’s okay to say “not put up with” rather than “up with which I will not put.”)

Here’s one that’s an actual preposition. Last sentence in the last panel:

The problem here is not just that it’s a preposition, but that it’s redundant. The sentence already mentions location with the word “where.”

So all you need to say is “Do you know where the crushed red pepper flakes are?”

When you’re talking about location, don’t end your sentence with “at.”

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Over the years I’ve mentioned all four of these incorrect rules, both in the classroom and on this blog. Use the search box in the upper right to find several mentions of each bad rule.

What English language rules are incorrect?

Never split an infinitive
Never end a sentence with a preposition
Never use a double negative
The pronouns “them” and “they” are always plural, never singular

I had forgotten the source of these rules. I think he was mentioned once in my sophomore English class. But I have long known that these rules were bad. Anyway, here’s an essay from Quora on the subject. It was written by Franklin Veaux, published author and compulsive writer. Thank you, sir, for the reminder.

All four of these rules were made up by one person, Bishop Robert Lowth.

Lowth was a religious scholar who was obsessed with the “purity” and perfection of Latin. He had a big-time fetish for Latin grammar. He considered Latin the ideal language, and believed that English should be more like Latin.

In 1762, he published a book on English grammar that made up a whole bunch of new rules, including the four above. His sole rationale for many of these rules was simply to try to force English grammar to be closer to Latin grammar.

Those rules had never been part of English until he made them up, and outside of prescriptivist grammar taught in school, they never caught on. Today, English grammar experts have largely abandoned teaching any of them.

First, here’s the bad sentence:

Because it will be able to collect more light than any telescope every built, including light from the edge of the universe, the device will allow us to determine the distance of far-off objects from the Earth and their composition.

https://futurism.com/giant-magellan-telescope-construction/

(First, that “every” should be “ever.” This is a plain old typo, resulting from carelessness. Shame on the proofreader.)

The real mistake of writing in this sentence has to do with the phrase “their composition.” At first (careless) glance, it looks like a compound object of 
from,” which doesn’t make sense.

“Their composition” is part of a compound direct object of “determine.”

The sentence has two solutions:

• Put a comma after “Earth.” This separates “and their composition” from the prepositional phrase.
• Put “composition and” right before “distance.” That gives you “…determine the composition and distance of far-off objects…” Now put “far off” where it belongs, next to the preposition: “…determine the composition and distance of objects far off from the Earth.”

I prefer the second choice even though it’s more work. The sentence is smoother.

Oh. Here’s a picture of the telescope, scheduled to be completed in 2024.

Been a while since I posted a comic, so here’s one:

Rule of thumb: Prepositions are especially tricky when you have to translate something into another language. Always get a native speaker to check your work.

Look at the sentence in the last panel, courtesy of Rabbits Against Magic.  Doesn’t feel quite right, does it?

That first preposition isn’t right somehow. Maybe I see a suggested contradiction between “in the opposite direction” and “to the White House.”

“Opposite” can stand by itself just fine:

They’re moving opposite the direction to the White House.

Or maybe something even simpler:

They’re moving away from the White House.

How would you smooth out that sentence?