HP: Hanging prepositions.

Two errors are common.

1. Avoid hanging prepositions. They are not grammatically incorrect, and they are hard to avoid in the haste of everyday speech. Many writers avoid them on the grounds of style, because they make sentences end weakly. To remember the rule, memorize the sentence “Prepositions are weak words to end sentences on.” To avoid a hanging preposition, do not simply add a phrase without changing the sentence structure, and do not add a redundant second preposition:

HANGING: She is the woman he fell eternally in love with.

STILL HANGING: She is the woman he fell in love with eternally.

REDUNDANT: She is the woman with whom he fell eternally in love with.

CORRECT: She is the woman with whom he fell eternally in love.

Many careful writers avoid leaving a preposition hanging at the end of a clause even if it does not end the sentence:

AWKWARD: The school she graduated from is located in Germany.

REDUNDANT: The school from which she graduated from is located in Germany.

BETTER: The school from which she graduated is located in Germany.

Hanging prepositions sound least objectionable when they are parts of phrasal verbs like “run into” or “look up to.” Even then, however, it is usually not hard to avoid the hanging preposition:

UNNATURAL: Into whom did you run?

ACCEPTABLE: Whom did you run into?

REPHRASED: Whom did you meet?

Incomplete infinitives make prepositions hang. Either complete the infinitive or omit it:

AWKWARD: I do what I want to.

BETTER: I do what I want to do. I do what I want.

2. Avoid using prepositions as adverbs. Either supply an object or rephrase the sentence:

WRONG: He went below.

CLEAR (object): He went below the deck.

WRONG: I came after.

RIGHT (rephrased): I followed him.

PrepX: omit unnecessary prepositions.

In everyday speech we often use prepositions as emphatic adverbs, but they are unnecessary and often redundant. You cannot “rise down” or “stand diagonally.” For formal writing, the Keables Guide recommends eliminating them:

Unnecessary preposition: They traveled south to escape from the cold.

More concise: They traveled south to escape the cold.

Unnecessary preposition: I tried to convince my father that I forgot about my curfew.

More concise: I tried to convince my father that I forgot my curfew.

In the phrases listed below, none of the words in red is necessary: