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To: Pest
I don't know where I picked that up.

It's a myth originally perpetrated by stuffy Victorian-era English teachers, and propagated by stuffy English teachers ever since. The root of the "rule" is actually from Latin - in Latin, you really can't end a sentence with a preposition. Somewhere along the line, some pedantic putz decided it would be a good idea if such a rule existed in English as well. The trouble is, as the citation in your post notes, that often has the effect of making sentences sound really stupid when they purposefully avoid prepositions at the end. The best rule of thumb is that if one can easily avoid prepositions at the end of sentences in formal or scholarly writing, do so. If they can't be avoided easily, or it's writing or speaking in any context other than the formal or scholarly, don't worry about it.

26 posted on 09/19/2003 8:00:15 AM PDT by general_re (SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: Quitting Sarcasm Now Greatly Reduces Serious Risks To Your Health.)
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To: general_re
I like your response. It wouldn't have helped me w/my mother, tho. When, as a young skull full of mush, I sometimes ended a sentence w/a preposition, my mother (the school teacher) would just look at me and refuse to answer until I had realized my crime and restructured my sentence.

gee, memories...sniff...
47 posted on 09/19/2003 12:51:12 PM PDT by radiohead
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