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

Question - Which sentence must be revised to eliminate the preposition at the end?

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

Is it natural to end a sentence with a preposition? Although it is grammatically incorrect, there are certain situations where we do see a sentence ending with a preposition. We would determine that sometimes ending a sentence with a preposition is okay.

Using prepositions at the end of a sentence is considered wrong based on Latin grammar applied in English. Although traditional readers would still consider it to be wrong to this day, recent studies show that it is quite normal to use prepositions at the end of sentences in causal writing.

Now let’s take the question above. The answer to the above question is b.

But why is that the case?

The sentience depicts that Katelyn and Ella are walking towards something unknown. If the destination was known, like a school, market, etc., it would have been considered right. But since it is unknown, the term “to” is incorrect.

So here is a heads up on how you can identify if it is safe to use a preposition or not

• Prepositions can be used in terms of casual writing

For example,

This is the story I told you about!

Who is she going out with?

Where is he from?

• It can be used when a sentence ends with colloquialisms or  idioms

For example,

Let your brother come along.

Diana should calm down.

Thanks for stopping by!

The above example (let your brother come along) can also be written as ask your brother to come with you. But this form of writing is accepted as well.

Spoken English is very different from that of grammatically correct English which is written. If you understand where you should use a preposition but do not know where you should not, here is a guide.

When should a preposition be removed?

Without getting into the grammatical part, it is safe to remove prepositions if there are too many of them in a sentence and it sounds unnatural.

For example:

I don't know where my belt is at.

Jennie doesn't know where she's going.

The above two sentences sound very unnatural. Instead of the above sentences, they could be concluded as:

I don't know where my belt is.

Jennie doesn’t know where she is going.

The meaning stands the same, but now it sounds more natural.

Passive voice sentences

As wrong as it is to end a sentence with a preposition same is when you are using a passive voice. But you can always change the sentence format and make it into active to remove the Preposition at the end.

For example

The show was called off

The problem is dealt with

Correcting the passive voice can already correct the framing of the entire sentence. For example, the above statement could be written as “the show was cancelled.”

Dangling prepositions

The Preposition, which naturally falls off in the end, is called a dangling preposition.

For example,

Where should I put the biscuits in?

Lyle left the radio on.

Traditional grammarians would be eye-rolling at these sentences, but in present instances, if it sounds fits, then it is not incorrect based on the context.

Relative clauses

When relative clauses are used in a sentence, they become the object that leaves a dangling proposition. But here, a relative pronoun like whom, whom, and with can be used to split the sentence and remove the preposition.

For example,

He is the guy I am going to dance with!

This can be written as

He is the guy with whom I am going to dance.

The use of relative pronouns discards the Preposition from the end

Infinite phrases

When infinitive phrases are used, they modify the noun leading to a preposition at the end.

Again, the entire sentence could be changed, or the infinite phrase could be shortened to discard the preposition.

 For example,

We have so much in our lives to be grateful for.

It can be written as

We are grateful for so much in our lives.

We want to conclude by saying that it is unnatural to end a proposition at the end, but if it seems natural and does not give an abrupt ending to the sentence, then you can use it very well.

FAQs

1. What is a preposition?

A preposition is a word or class of words used before a noun or pronoun to show the location, time, place and direction.

2. How to identify a preposition?

Prepositions are usually placed before a noun or pronoun and show direction, location time. This is one of the easiest ways to indicate a preposition in a sentence.

3. What is the main rule of using prepositions?

In English language, we use prepositions to establish the relationship between a noun/pronoun with an object, event, or another person. The two tenets of using preposition are the subject and the verb.