Which Sentence Must Be Revised To Eliminate The Preposition At The End?

Which Sentence Must Be Revised To Eliminate The Preposition At The End?

a. If no one answers the door, then please let yourself in.

b. Where are Katelyn and Ella walking to?

c. The top steps are fine, but be careful of the slippery stairs below.

d-Do you know what Naveen was talking about?

Answer: b. Where are Katelyn and Ella walking to?

In this sentence, we see that the preposition “to ‘has been used wrongly at the end of the sentence and therefore we need to eliminate it. Ending a sentence with a preposition does sound somewhat improper in conventional language even though this is fine when one is speaking informally.

To revise this sentence, we can rephrase it as: “Where are Katelyn and Ella walking?” or “To where are Katelyn and Ella strolling?” The former is slightly preferred in contemporary English prose, the latter is more formal but less Acceptable. It is important to note that the other sentences in the options are acceptable as they are:

a. “If no one answers the door, then please let yourself in” Here, the word “in” functions as part of the phrasal verb “let yourself in” that cannot be left out.

c. “The top steps are fine, but beware of the slippery stairs at the bottom.” In this case, “on the” is also used as an adverb.

d. “Do you know what Naveen was talking about?” This one slightly breaks the rule as it is followed by a preposition but it is perfectly fine in informal English.

Technically the restriction of not using prepositions at the end of the sentence has Latin origins when English was written according to Latin grammar rules. Nonetheless, the present-day American usage is more liberal. In many cases, special attempts to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition are made which results in awkward and formal constructions. For example, there is a well-known quote by Winston Churchill that parodied this rule as he said, “This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.