Is it possible to end a sentence with the word the

Menu Prepositions Intro. Can you end a sentence with a preposition in English? Examples: From where are you? Unnatural Where are you from? Natural In what are you interested? Unnatural What are you interested in? Natural For what did he pay? Unnatural What did he pay for? Although it is not permissible to end Latin sentences with prepositions, in fact English speakers have been not incorrectly ending their sentences with prepositions for quite some time.

Almost as well known as the injunction against ending a sentence with a preposition is Winston Churchill's witty and intentionally awkward rejoinder: "That is the type of arrant pedantry up with which I will not put. The fact is that English presents many opportunities to compose sentences that would just sound awkward if we had to rewrite them to avoid leaving a preposition at the end.

For example:. What are you waiting for? Awkward rephrasing: For what are you waiting? That is exactly what I am concerned about. Awkward rephrasing: That is exactly the thing about which I am concerned. That cake is just to die for. That about wraps things up! Awkward rephrasing that also makes it sound like we're talking about wrapping presents or something: That about wraps up things. That is the book I was telling you about.

Awkward rephrasing: That is the book about which I was telling you. I hope I've convinced you that relocating prepositions from the ends of sentences can produce some ugly writing. However, despite this rule's having no real basis in English grammar, many people continue to believe it is wrong to leave a preposition at the end of a sentence.

I'll leave it up to you as to whether you want to appease these people by avoiding unnecessary dangling prepositions. However, I will point out that, for example, one could easily rewrite the following sentences:. A: Yes Remember this though: if your reader thinks it's wrong, it might as well be. This is not about being right. It's about writing a sentence that will definitely not irk your readers.

Also, there's a fair chance that if you've reworded your sentence to avoid a preposition at the end, it will be a better, more succinct sentence. So, avoid prepositions at the end of sentences. Just play the game. Ready for the Test? Here is a confirmatory test for this lesson. This test can also be: Edited i.

Printed to create a handout.