# Ending sentences with a preposition **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 28, 2013, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-sentences-with-a-preposition/656962 "2013-04-28T23:17:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-sentences-with-a-preposition/656962/81 "2013-04-30T00:26:15Z")
> [@moriah](#): > > Because ‘going’ can mean more of a state than an actual place. You answer “where are to going” with “to take a nap.” You answer “where are you going to” with “to my bedroom.” The dangling preposition denotes specific place or direction, which is what the questioner may be looking for. Good point. I still don’t think it’s that black and white. I think you could use either phrase and convey the same message. The point is to form the habit. If you make it a habit to avoid prepositions, you will be less likely to make the mistake of placing a wrong one in the future. > [@moriah](#): > > The other reason you’d might want to use “where are you going to” is because it’s common English parlance. That phrase has 86.7 million hits on Google. It is actually up to you to explain why wouldn’t someone use that construction since it’s so freaking common. I’m not sure what you mean here. I typed, “where are you going to?” and came up with [this](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/4618/is-where-are-you-going-to-correct) as the very first hit. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-sentences-with-a-preposition/656962/82 "2013-04-30T00:38:29Z")
> [@panaccione](#): > > Well, remember let’s not make everything black and white. I don’t fully understand prepositions but it’s not fair to say that I don’t have a good idea. I’m not a grammarian but it’s not that difficult of a concept. > > [List of english prepositions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_prepositions) With respect, if you thought “this” or “it” were prepositions, you really don’t have a good idea as to what prepositions are. And just knowing the list, by the way, doesn’t really give you a very good idea either. Many of the words on that list have a prepositional use but also can be used as part of a verb. To have a good idea what a preposition _is_ you’d need to be able to reliably distinguish between these two types of uses. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-sentences-with-a-preposition/656962/83 "2013-04-30T00:44:16Z")
> [@panaccione](#): > > No, I did not know that it can’t just be compiled into a neat list. Again: You should not have strong opinions about things you don’t understand. You said you’re “not clueless” but to be honest, without exaggeration, I can say confidently that thinking “this” or “it” can be a preposition, and not knowing that a list like that is uninformative, all of that actually does put you pretty close to the ‘clueless’ end of the scale when it comes specifically to this particular topic. I mean I wouldn’t have normally used that word but since you put it out there… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-sentences-with-a-preposition/656962/84 "2013-04-30T00:46:59Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > You should not have strong opinions about things you don’t understand. +1 Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-sentences-with-a-preposition/656962/85 "2013-04-30T00:48:48Z")
I can accept that. I guess I’ll have to do some more research. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-sentences-with-a-preposition/656962/86 "2013-04-30T00:56:27Z")
🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-sentences-with-a-preposition/656962/87 "2013-04-30T00:56:40Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Wow. I knew this would be posted in this thread at some point. To be honest, I was going to do it, but the first response? Talk about being quick off the tee. Too soon? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2013, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-sentences-with-a-preposition/656962/88 "2013-04-30T00:57:19Z")
> [@panaccione](#): > > It’s cleaner and more concise. Why add the “to”? Who says concision is always valuable? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ending-sentences-with-a-preposition/656962.md?page=4)