You Can End a Sentence With a Preposition
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- On June 19, 2018
“You have to use condoms and know with whom you go to bed.”
That’s what Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the now 90-year-old sex therapist, said in a recent interview with a New York Times reporter as she recalled some of the groundbreaking advice she gave in the early 80s.
She’s a straight talker, but her statement sounds twisted and awkward. There’s no reason why she could not have ended on the preposition with and said, “You have to know whom you’re going to bed with,” which would have been perfectly acceptable.
Winston Churchill supposedly once exclaimed, “That is the sort of thing up with which I will not put!” instead of “That is the sort of thing I will not put up with!” to show just how ludicrous it is to avoid ending a sentence with a preposition.
I’m going with Churchill—but not to bed.
