We use them all the time, and usually we do so incorrectly. 

Prepositions are words, usually small ones, that come before a noun or pronoun (or sometimes a longer phrase) to describe the relationship with other words in the sentence. There are too many to list, but some of them include the words to, from, by, with, over, under, between, up, down, and among.

We were taught in English class that a preposition begins a prepositional phrase – and we aren’t supposed to end a sentence with a preposition. Here are some examples of correct usage:

Hang up the phone.

Lincoln’s cabinet often disagreed with each other.

Don’t go down to the beach without us. (There are two in that one!)

In today’s vernacular, we often end sentences with prepositions, and grammarians really frown on it:

Sometimes you’re hard to put up with.

I want to hang my coat up.

Let’s go down.

The village is hard to get to.

Prepositions have always been necessary, and continue to be, because we need to enhance and describe the relationship with the words we are using. Whether we say it or write it, we need to know if we’re doing something to, with, over, or above something.

Winston Churchill, who served as Great Britain’s Prime Minister during World War II, was also an aristocratic statesman from the old school of language (and a devoted disciple of the Queen’s English). He was known for his outlandish quotes. He once famously said, “Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put!”

He was grammatically correct, naturally, but we all know that we just aren’t going to say that. Ever.

When pressured by a grammatical expert, or while conversing with sophisticated company, a good rule is to figure out a way to say whatever you wish to say without dangling a preposition at the end:

I won’t put up with ending a sentence with a preposition.

It’s hard to get to the village.

I want to hang up my coat.

It’s hard to put up with you sometimes.

Times are changing, and those pesky prepositions dangle from our speech all the time. Soon it will probably be considered correct usage – like saying snuck instead of sneaked.

As one of the old school, I try not to do it, but really, I just wouldn’t worry about it.

Pass the word!