Re: Prepositions at the end of a sentence (was: 'directions below' or 'below directions'?)

[Brad Connatser <cwrites -at- USIT -dot- NET>]

The Churchill quote demonstrates one confusion about the rule against
ending a sentence with a preposition--"with" is not used as a preposition
in that sentence. "With" is a particle of the phrasal verb "to put up
with." For that reason, it is correct to end the sentence with "with." If
you parse the sentence, you'll see that the relative pronoun "which" is the
object of the phrasal verb "put up with." In other cases, I agree with
Michael: The rule against ending a sentence with a preposition has no place
in English prescriptive grammar.

Brad

At 6:10 PM -0000 7/21/98, Michael Christie wrote:
>Right. The rule was a result of the imposition of the rules on Latin grammar
>onto English early on in the history of the language. It makes sense in
>Latin, where word order is dictated not by grammar but by your emphasis.
>Hence, words that are central to your message go at the beginning and end of
>the sentence, while things like prepositions are relegated to the middle. It
>doesn't always make sense to follow the rule in English.
>
>Winston Churchill is said to have had the following observation on the
>topic:
>
>"This is the kind of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put."

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Brad Connatser
Publications Manager
Power Electronics Applications Center
423-974-8316
fax: 423-974-8289
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