Denise Conover

A Guide to Writing in History

(based on A Guide to Writing in History and Classics by M. Damen)


1.C.7 Prepositions at the End of Sentences.

Finally, with all I have said you shouldn't do, here's one traditional point of style I don't care about. Let your sentences end with prepositions. It's a natural feature of English—I can show that linguistically!—so whoever made up the ridiculous rule that prepositions ought not come at the end of sentences didn't understand the nature or history of the English language and probably should be put on trial for linguistic perversity. Thereupon, I call Winston Churchill as my first witness. When some pompous cretin complained that the great British leader ended his sentences with prepositions, Churchill retorted, "That is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put." Right on!


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