Yes, you can end a sentence with a preposition

Yes, you can end a sentence with a preposition

Let’s bust one of the big myths about the right way to write: that you shouldn’t end a sentence with a word like after, in, to, on, or with.

Prepositions describe the relationship between the noun or pronoun and other words in a sentence. For example, in the sentence below over is the preposition:

His coat was over the chair.

There are times when it would be impossible to avoid putting the preposition at the end of the sentence without creating a bit of a clunky mess. For example:

Where do you come from?

Try writing that sentence without putting from at the end.

From where do you come?

It sounds a little awkward, doesn’t it? This is why ending a sentence with a preposition is a perfectly natural, and perfectly correct, part of the structure of modern English.

And another thing: you can start a sentence with a conjunction. Have you ever been told it’s wrong to start a sentence with ‘and’ or ‘but’? Well, that’s a myth: starting a sentence with a conjunction is not ungrammatical. In fact, it can be rather useful. The Oxford English Dictionary points out that ‘many respected writers use conjunctions at the start of a sentence to create a dramatic or forceful effect’. That is, of course, what we are doing with the title of this comment. This isn’t new, either. There are sentences beginning with ‘and’ in Chaucer, Shakespeare, the King James Bible and others. The important thing, as with so much in life, is not to overdo it. Start every sentence with ‘and’ or ‘but’ and you’ll lose the element of surprise that creates emphasis, and you might also irritate your readers. But if you use conjunctions at the start of sentences wisely, you’ll be rewarded with engaging prose.

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