Why can't sentances end in prepositions?

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Never was a fan of the rules of writing. Always seemed to me that if i can understand you and you can understand me then we're all good. Certain rules are just a waste of time and allow for those who think they are better than you or me to endlessly correct. A favorite game of my mothers is to talk incorrectly around my aunt and grandmother. It drives them up a wall as they try to correct you.

 

[Hypersmurf]

A favorite game of my mothers is to talk incorrectly around my aunt and grandmother. It drives them up a wall as they try to correct you.

How many mothers do you have?!

-Hyp.

 

[Umbran]

Probably BECAUSE it sounds more formal and stilted.

It is the perverse nature of humanity that the codified standard would always sound formal and stilted, whatever it happened to be. If the rule was, "Always end a sentence a preposition with," then that would be what we felt was formal and stilted sounding. Whatever the rule might be, they couldn't win.

 

[Huw]

They can. English is a Germanic language, not a Romance one. You can split infinitives too. And start sentences with conjunctions.

It's foolish to describe one language's grammar in terms of another's.

Examples

- in Arabic you can have a valid sentence with no verbs in
- in Japanese you can have a valid sentence with no subject (and intransitive verbs in the passive voice)

 

[Umbran]

They can. English is a Germanic language, not a Romance one.

English has Germanic roots, but it has borrowed so heavily from other languages that it can hardly be called strictly Germanic at this point. And, in any event, history does not determine what current grammatical ruels are in force.

 

[Abisashi]

How many mothers do you have?!

-Hyp.

Nice

 

[Huw]

English has Germanic roots, but it has borrowed so heavily from other languages that it can hardly be called strictly Germanic at this point. And, in any event, history does not determine what current grammatical ruels are in force.

...which reinforces my point. Describe English as it is, not how it was and certainly not how an only vaguely related language was.

 

[babomb]

Sentences most certainly can end in prepositions. Complaining about ending a sentence with a preposition is as outmoded as complaining about split infinitives or the use of the word "hopefully" instead of "It is to be hoped that". The Chicago Manual of Style describes it as a superstition. Nevertheless, you may wish to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition when doing so doesn't make the sentence awkward, if only to avoid the criticism of the misinformed.

 

[EricNoah]

I believe the misinformed need to be corrected, not placated.

 

[Umbran]

...which reinforces my point. Describe English as it is, not how it was and certainly not how an only vaguely related language was.

Well, yes and no. It reinforces that you should look not look at other languages' rules, but your own examples of what the rules are like were other languages...

Once again, we get to the problem of definition of language - is it defined by use or by some prescribed set of rules (and if the latter, which specific set of rules, because they aren't consistent).

The real answer, I think, is both. The rules of language, overall, aren't really tied down. If enough people say you shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition, then you shouldn't. Saying they are "misinformed" misses the fact that in the end, the language is in the hands of the masses, however much one wants to shout about grammatical misdemeanors.