Let's Talk Prepositions

What type of word are you not supposed to end a sentence with?

If I were to listen to the many well-meaning people who love to catch a writer or grammarian in the act of messing up, I likely would be called out on the sentence I wrote above. And, come to think of it, the sentence I just finished writing as well.

That's because of all the grammar rules the general public tends to latch onto and not let go of, the "rule" about not ending a sentence with a preposition is one of the most often-recited. Even though it's not really a rule.

The next time someone wags a finger at you for ending a sentence with "on" or "up" or "through" or any other particularly helpful preposition, go ahead and wag your finger right back at them and tell them this, straight from the text of The Chicago Manual of Style 15th edition (which, you might recall, is on my brief freelance writer's must-have list):

5.169 Ending a sentence with a preposition. The traditional caveat of yesteryear against ending sentences with prepositions is, for most writers, an unnecessary and pedantic restriction. As Winston Churchill famously said, "That is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I shall not put." A sentence that ends in a preposition may sound more natural than a sentence carefully constructed to avoid a final preposition. Compare Those are the guidelines an author should adhere to with Those are the guidelines to which an author should adhere. The "rule" prohibiting terminal prepositions was an ill-founded superstition.

Take heed, all you naysayers. There's nothing wrong with where I put my prepositions. Enough said.