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© Copyright 2003, Jim Loy
People sometimes warn us against ending a sentence with a preposition. An example is "That is the house I live in," which can be written slightly more clearly as "I live in that house." I say "more clearly" because the prepositional phrase is "in that house," which is not as clear in the first example. If a sentence is unusually long, and the ending preposition will be a long distance from its object, then it is best to avoid ending with the preposition. Apparently Latin has a rule against ending a sentence with a preposition. English has no such rule. It is sometimes preferable to avoid ending with a preposition, and sometimes it is preferable to end with a preposition. "Where are you from" is more natural than "From where are you."
When Winston Churchill was once criticized for ending a sentence in a preposition, responded, "That is the kind of thing up with which I will not put." Of course, he was making fun of the nonexistant "rule." Here is an exteme example of the hazards of ending with a preposition:
Child: I want to be read to.
Mother: Which book would you like to be read to out of?
Child: Robinson Crusoe.
Mother brings Swiss Family Robinson.
Child: What did you bring me that book to be read to out of for?