You may end a sentence with a preposition!

It's a common misconception that you should never end a sentence with a preposition. Many grammarians argue that it's perfectly okay to do so, if the case warrants it.

What is a preposition?

A preposition, and the prepositional phrase which contains it, describes a relationship between its object and the rest of the sentence. For example:

The horse is in the stable.
He went inside the house.
The students were very disrespectful toward their teacher.

For a more detailed description of prepositions

When it's okay to end a sentence in a preposition:

Take the following sentence for example:

Who did you talk to?

Try removing the preposition.

Who did you talk?

This doesn't make any sense, and the alternative, rewriting the sentence, sounds too awkward for every day use:

To whom did you talk?

Unless you're writing dialogue for a particularly pretentious character, it would not be a good idea to write this way.

When it's not okay:

On the other hand, if the preposition could be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence, then it should be.

E.g. There was nothing inside of the refrigerator, so they ordered pizza.

There was nothing inside the refrigerator, so they ordered a pizza.

E.g. Where are you going to?

Where are you going?

In each example the second sentence works better, both for brevity and clarity.

Source

Prepositions

A Preposition links nouns, pronouns, and phrases to other words in a sentence. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object of the preposition.

A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples:

The book is on the table.
The book is beneath the table.
The book is leaning against the table.
The book is beside the table.
She held the book over the table.
She read the book during class.

A prepositional phrase is made up of the preposition, its object and any associated adjectives or adverbs. A prepositional phrase can function as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb. The most common prepositions are "about," "above," "across," "after," "against," "along," "among," "around," "at," "before," "behind," "below," "beneath," "beside," "between," "beyond," "but," "by," "despite," "down," "during," "except," "for," "from," "in," "inside," "into," "like," "near," "of," "off," "on," "onto," "out," "outside," "over," "past," "since," "through," "throughout," "till," "to," "toward," "under," "underneath," "until," "up," "upon," "with," "within," and "without."

For example:

He was writing on an old, mechanical typewriter.

"on" is the preposition.

"on an old, mechanical typewriter" is the prepositional phrase.

Source

When Semicolons Replace Commas

1. Semicolons are used to separate items in a list when the items already contain commas.

Normal List of items:

Inside the basket of fruit there was an apple, an orange, a banana, and a bundle of grapes.

List requiring semicolons:

Inside the basket of fruit there was a juicy, red apple; a shrunken, unripe orange; a half-eaten banana; and a bundle of overripe grapes.

Note: The last item has no commas, but a semicolon was used anyway. In mixed cases, I think, but have been unable to confirm, that you should use a semicolon if it makes the list easier to read. Just make sure you don't mix commas and semicolons within the same list. Be consistent.

 

2. Join independent clauses with a semicolon when one or both clauses contain a comma (Rozakis 156).

For example:

Wickham, a skinny kid with a perpetually hungry look, left his food, even though he hadn’t had enough; but George, who was full, couldn’t be blasted free from his plate—some people simply have stronger stomachs than others.

 

Sources

Rozakis, Laurie. English Grammar for the Utterly Confused. McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003.

http://www.cliffsnotes.com/WileyCDA/CliffsReviewTopic/Uses-of-the-Semicolon.topicArticleId-29011,articleId-28988.html

Further/Farther

Further

Used for time or quantity, not distance (46). E.g. I pursued Spanish further than any of my colleagues because I wanted to become the new regional sales manager for Latin America.

Farther

Used for distance. E.g. They ran farther down the hill to check if the others were catching up.

Quiz

Source:

Strunk, William, and E.B. White. The Elements of Style. Fourth Edition. Massachusetts: Allyn & Bacon, 2000. Print.

Passsed/Past

Past

Refers to a period in time or a distance. E.g. All of my best memories are in the past (time). OR The bus went past at an incredible velocity (distance).

Passed

The action of passing. E.g. The teacher passed us by when he was handing out candy.

Source

That/Which

That

Used to introduce a restrictive clause.

E.g. "I want an apple that doesn't have worms in it."

-Describes the exact apple desired, clause is restrictive, no need for commas because the clause is essential to the sentence's meaning.

Which

Used to introduce a nonrestrictive clause.

E.g. "I want an apple, which is a delicious type of fruit."

-Says nothing about the specific apple desired, the clause is "nonrestrictive," that is, it describes all apples, requires a comma before the clause because the clause is nonessential to the sentence's meaning.

A case where proper use is critical:

He likes dogs that don't bark.

He likes dogs, which don't bark.

In the first case we know that "he" likes dogs that don't bark.

In the second case, we're told two things: "he" likes dogs, and dogs don't bark.

(However, it seems to me that this distinction is so rare that we might eliminate it altogether by properly using commas. If the comma is removed in the second example, it doesn't matter that "which" was used; the sentence retains its proper meaning for the reader.)

Test

Rule 1: Sentence's meaning is the same without the clause: use "Which"

Rule 2: Sentence's meaning changes with the clause: use "That"

Rule 3: Clause seems to naturally call for a comma: check Rule 1

Quiz

Source