Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Today's topic is prepositions. Michael Vogt grammar I'm currently reading "An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Reasoning" by Cohen and Nagle, and in their explanation of the difference between logic and grammar, I found the following description of grammar to have some insight: "Grammar is primarily a descriptive social science, describing in some systematic manner the way in which words are used among certain peoples. It is only incidentally normative, as the description of fashions in clothes is." This book was written in 1934, and since then there may have been changes in how grammar is perceived, but the idea that it somehow gives us iron-clad rules as dependable as the laws of physics seems to ignore the fact that language is a human construct developed from ordinary experience, which – unlike logic – does not require great accuracy. So while grammar is a wonderful thing for improving the accuracy and clarity of one's writing and speech, it seems a misunderstanding of the whole subject is required to regard grammatical rules as wholly inflexible. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=20608#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=20608#Comments Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:25:09 GMT rulingdobermen grammar Semicolons. Is the following sentence properly punctuated (not necessarily properly written)? LABORATORY DATA: O2 saturation on 3 liters, on (date), was 92%; on (date), on 2 liters, 94%; and on 2 liters, on the (date), (at) 97%. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=19587#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=19587#Comments Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:11:58 GMT Mark grammar Hi, Grammar Girl. I am struggling with the following sentence: "What you can be the best in the world at." This is actually a bullet point on a powerpoint slide. The sentence is followed by a positive statement. Is it okay to end a bullet point with this preposition? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=19358#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=19358#Comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:33:34 GMT michele grammar FYI: this tip appears in the Legal Lad tips not Grammar Girl http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=19289#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=19289#Comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:01:03 GMT Chris grammar Ending sentences with prepositions drives me crazy (almost as much as adjective/adverb confusion, subject noun/object noun confusion, and passive sentences). Hmm, I guess that's a dangling participle. Anyway, some people (allegedly quoting Winston Churchill) say, "That is something with which I will not put" to argue that it is easier and more correct to say "That is something I will not put up with." Wrong. It's simple: "I will not put up with that." You can also say "You stepped on what?" rather than "On what did you step?" (although I, by instinct, tend to say the later). http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=19210#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=19210#Comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:48:09 GMT rachel carter goss grammar I say "on what did you step"...and I LUV doing it... http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=18975#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=18975#Comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:18:36 GMT SBQS grammar Hi Grammar Girl. Wanted to make a suggestion for a Blog. What about a critique of using "at" at the end of sentences. As you mention in this blog it is unnecessary but it is also used frequently in the wrong place: e.g "Where you at?" vs. "Where are you?" not sure why "at" at the end of the sentence has entered the American lexicon (seems to be more southern U.S.) but it sounds terrible and frankly I think it's embarrassing. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=18486#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=18486#Comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:22:13 GMT Adam Sirk grammar Hi Grammar Girl, I enjoy your webpage. I wanted to comment that "That's where it is" and "That's where it's at" may not mean the same thing. The former relates to a specific place (e.g it is there, that is where it is to be found, fact, definite) while the latter relates more to a stage or an indefinite state (at this moment, it is here, now there, passing through a certain stage, which is never a position but an indication, a marker, in a process of change). In this case, the use of a preposition (as a grammatical function that relates to space and time) seems logical. Regards, A. Sirk http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=17749#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=17749#Comments Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:29:46 GMT Stefan grammar Grammar Girl, Please don't take this the wrong way, but here's a sentence you wrote: "To get back to the main point, the bottom line is that many people think it's wrong, so I wouldn't advise ending sentences with prepositions in critical situations, for example, you shouldn't do it in a cover letter for a job you really want." People seem to get so focused on these tiny, mundane rules about whether to end a sentence with a preposition that we forget the bigger errors, such as the comma splice in that last sentence; for example works as a conjunctive adverb and needs to be set off by a semi-colon when it joins two independent clauses. Keep up the good work! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=17724#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=17724#Comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:47:16 GMT Joseph Lippa grammar My avocation is grammar; I marginally passed English in school, until my junior year in high school. Through a love of language, Latin, I became appreciative of grammar and its function in any language. Please address the issue of using "I" the subjective case, instead of "me" the objective. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=17651#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx?commentid=17651#Comments Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:36:23 GMT Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:25:09 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us