Below are several interesting discussions re ending sentences with a 
preposition.  I think we can all comfortably through out that 'rule' and 
go with what sounds best and is most understandable! 

Kerry


http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/022703.htm
Although sentences 2 and 3 are not ungrammatical, we could, of course, 
rewrite them to avoid ending them with prepositions: 
2. For what do you need to go to the store? 
3. In which department is he? 
Such wording sounds very formal, however, and would sound pretentious in 
casual conversation and in most professional writing. Nonetheless, in 
professional contexts, it is probably best to avoid ending sentences with 
prepositions simply because many people *think* that doing so is always 
incorrect. Many readers do not recognize the difference between ending a 
sentence with a preposition whose object appears earlier in the sentence 
and ending a sentence with a preposition that has no object. 
On the subject of ending sentences with prepositions, people often recount 
a story involving Winston Churchill. When an editor dared to change a 
sentence of Churchill's that appeared to end inappropriately with a 
preposition, Churchill responded by writing to the editor, "This is the 
kind of impertinence up with which I shall not put." His purpose, of 
course, was to illustrate the awkwardness that can result from rigid 
adherence to the notion that prepositions at the end of sentences are 
always incorrect. 
The same words that frequently function as prepositions can also function 
as adverbs, and often they exist as part of what we call a phrasal verb. 
Verbs that contain adverbs are easy to spot because the adverb 
significantly affects the meaning of the verb. In Churchill's sentence, 
for example, the verb "to put up with" means "to tolerate" and is a very 
different verb from "to put," which means "to set" or "to place." 





Chttp://dictionary.reference.com/help/faq/language/g30.htmlan I ever end a 
sentence with a preposition?
The word preposition (examples: at, in, of, to) is so named because such 
words normally precede the position of their objects in a prepositional 
phrase. Some people then took this definition to mean that a preposition 
always had to come before its object and could never end a sentence. Latin 
has a rule against ending a sentence with a preposition, but English has 
no such rule. If a sentence is unusually long, and the ending preposition 
will be a long distance from its object, then it is best to avoid ending 
with the preposition. It is sometimes preferable to avoid ending with a 
preposition, and sometimes it is preferable to end with a preposition. 
"Where are you from?" is more natural than, "From where are you?" As 
general practice, one should avoid ending a sentence with a preposition as 
a matter of style rather than grammar. If the sentence sounds good and 
clear and ends with a preposition, then go with it. 











http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/words/prepositions.html
PREPOSITIONS TO END SENTENCES WITH
This is a point over which people still fight. 
Prepositions are usually placed in front of the nouns and pronouns they 
link to the rest of a sentence (such as beyond hope, with ice-cream, and 
over my dead body.) But they don't have to have words tacked behind them. 
The myth that ending a sentence with a preposition is wrong appears to 
have started with an influential book by an eighteenth-century Bishop of 
London, Robert Lowth, according to Bill Bryson's The Penguin Dictionary of 
Troublesome Words. In Lowth's Short Introduction to English Grammar, the 
"gentleman grammarian" urged his readers to be polite by avoiding 
prepositions at the end of their sentences if they possibly could. To 
Lowth, for example, writing "this is something you should go to" was less 
appealing than "this is something to which you should go." 
"Too many people took him too literally and for a century and a half the 
notion held sway," Bryson says. "Today, happily, it is universally 
condemned as a ridiculous affectation." 
Novelist Kingsley Amis is a bit harsher, calling the rule "one of those 
fancied prohibitions dear to ignorant slobs." 
If you believe a sentence looks or sounds better with a preposition at the 
end, write it that way. Grammarians won't quarrel. In fact many will 
applaud. 
Not only is it harmless to put a preposition at the end, it's also natural 
— an important consideration for writers at the CBC who have their words 
read aloud on radio and television. Consider the following sentences: 
"She refused to come in." 
"What's the world coming to?" 
And, of course: "This is a point people still fight over." 







Kerry Harwood, RN, MSN
Assistant Director, Dept. of Advanced Clinical Practice 
Duke University Medical Center Box 3458
Durham, NC 27710
919-681-5288
kerry.harwood at duke.edu

A mind once stretched by a new idea never returns to its original 
dimensions.  A ship in the harbor is safe...but that's not what ships were 
made for.  Wisdom is knowing what path to take next...integrity is taking 
it. 



"Julie McKinney" <julie_mcKinney at worlded.org> 
Sent by: healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov
05/15/2008 11:57 AM
Please respond to
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Subject
[HealthLiteracy 1990] Wednesday Question: Writing how we talk:  better or 
worse?






I agree with Kristina that writing "the way we talk" is usually clearer,
even if it is technically grammatically incorrect. It's an interesting
concept that well educated people talk in a certain way, which is
grammatically correct, but may be more confusing to people with literacy
or English challenges. And this way is usually how we are "supposed" to
write.

The gender question that we've been discussing is one example of that,
but there are many others. For example, the rule that no sentence can
end with a preposition. Which is clearer:

Your dominant hand is the one you write with.
or
Your dominant hand is the one with which you write.

(I know we could say ..."the one you use to write", but sometimes, the
sentence structures abobe seem to be the only choices.)

What do the plain language folks think about this? And others? Can we
write more colloquially, and is it clearer or not?

All the best,
Julie



Julie McKinney
Health Literacy List Moderator
World Education
jmckinney at worlded.org

>>> Kristina Anderson <kristina at easyreadcopywriting.com> 05/15/08 11:30

AM >>>
It's my experience that using "their" does not confuse patients at all
because it is how we talk. I have tested low lit materials using "their"
when "he/she" would have been grammatically correct. No one expressed
confusion. I have also read, although I can't remember where, that this
usage is no longer considered incorrect grammar. The only people who
question it are the well educated.

Our language is changing, and this is an example of that.

Kristina 



> From: "Davies, Nicola" <NDavies at dthr.ab.ca>

> Reply-To: The Health and Literacy Discussion List

<healthliteracy at nifl.gov>

> Date: Thu, 8 May 2008 14:40:07 -0600

> To: The Health and Literacy Discussion List <healthliteracy at nifl.gov>

> Conversation: [HealthLiteracy 1977] Fw: Guidance on remaining gender

neurtral

> Subject: [HealthLiteracy 1979] Re: Fw: Guidance on remaining gender

neurtral

> 

> wherever possible I use second person: you

> 

> So often I see examples like, "patients are encouraged to wash his or

her

> hands" instead of "please wash your hands"

> 

> A lot of writers use "their" but that implies plural.

> 

> Nicola

> -----Original Message-----

> From: healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov

> [mailto:healthliteracy-bounces at nifl.gov]On Behalf Of

> Terri.Ades at cancer.org

> Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 9:51 AM

> To: healthliteracy at nifl.gov

> Subject: [HealthLiteracy 1977] Fw: Guidance on remaining gender

neurtral

> 

> 

> 

> Our style guidelines require that we remain gender neutral. However,

my

> sense is that when writing for an audience with very limited literacy

> skills, using "he or she" is not easily understood.  Suggestions would

be

> greatly appreciated?

> 

> Terri Ades, MS, FNP-BC, AOCN

> Director, Cancer Information

> Health Promotions

> American Cancer Society

> 250 Williams Street

> Atlanta, GA 30303-1002

> 404-329-7785

> tades at cancer.org

> 

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