Review: What is a Preposition?

Prepositions are words which link nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence. They usually describe the position of something, the time when something happens, or the way something is done. For, of, and to are special prepositions that can be used in multiple ways.

Can I end a sentence with a preposition?

The answer to this is complicated. In the past, the general rule was that you shouldn’t end a sentence with a preposition. However, this rule doesn’t really serve a grammatical purpose, and you can still write a correct sentence while ending on a preposition.

That’s the room that I slept in.

You can see that the sentence above makes perfect sense, even though it ends with the preposition in. We don’t necessarily have to edit it. However, for clarity’s sake, sometimes we should rearrange sentences to NOT end with prepositions, making it easier to read:

I slept in that room.

This version of the sentence uses less words and flows better. Sentences that don’t end with prepositions are thought to be more formal as well. That being said, it isn’t the end of the world if you can’t find a way to rearrange a sentence so that it doesn’t end with a preposition. In general, clarity is the most important thing in a sentence, no matter where the preposition ends up.