On Thu, 06 Jun 2013 18:32:25 -0400, Warp wrote:

> James Holsenback <nom### [at] nonecom> wrote:
>> The copy was also littered with sentences that ended with prepositions.
> 
> Why is that bad?
> 
> The rule to avoid ending sentences with prepositions in English is
> completely artificial, invented by one person (you can even find his
> name if you search) for a textbook, which got just blindly copied by
> other textbook with no rationale or any kind of linguistics research
> behind it. It just became a popular notion that everybody blindly
> repeated, without any kind of reasoning behind it.
> 
> That in itself wouldn't be a bad thing if it really described how actual
> fluent English works. However, it doesn't. There are countless examples
> where ending a sentence in a preposition is completely fluent,
> understandable and appropriate. There's basically nothing wrong with it.
> 
> The rule is completely artificial and has no reason to exist.

One might argue that most rules of grammar are completely artificial.  
The purpose of any such rule is for writing to be made clear.  So the 
problem that James is referring to isn't necessarily "ending sentences 
with a preposition", but "the writing is unclear because the sentences 
are ended with a preposition." - that is, the problem is that the writing 
is unclear.

And a lack of clarity in writing is a *huge* problem.

Prepositions are used to describe the relationship between two things - 
and the second thing in the comparison follows the preposition.  The idea 
behind not ending sentences with a preposition has to do with the idea 
that if you're comparing two objects, you have to have two objects.

But it's /not/ a "rule", because there are obvious cases where rewriting 
to avoid ending with a preposition results in a very contrived sentence.

The guideline is that in general, ending sentences with a preposition 
tends to be unclear.  If you're describing something that is with 
something else, you have to generally state what the object is with.  Or 
above, below, beside, etc.

But prepositions also have other uses, which is why it's not a "rule" but 
a "guideline".  But those tend to be exceptions.

"The strike came from above." - yes, that's perfectly clear, because 
"above", while describing a relationship (and as a preposition), the 
context in the sentence makes it clear that the target was below where 
the attack came from.

^^^^ And that last sentence, "from" also is clear because of the context.

"The apple was beside." - that's a sentence fragment that ends in a 
preposition.  It's completely unclear what the apple was beside.  (And 
that last sentence isn't a sentence fragment because the context makes it 
clear that the "what" that is beside the apple is the object that is 
missing.)

Jim

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