Re:Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with?
by merraksh on Tuesday February 07, 2017 @06:42AM
(#13588732)
Thanks for the link. I do know that prepositions are just fine at the end of a sentence (and I often use them that way), in fact the second version I propose has one. I think my nitpicking is at the presence of the preposition itself, not its position. Replacing it with "With what device do you use to read academic papers?" would be equally wrong.
Re:Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with?
by milesrout on Thursday February 09, 2017 @05:52AM
(#13606017)
You're missing the point, completely. The issue has nothing to do with whether it's okay to end a sentence with a preposition. The issue is that the title is ungrammatical.
"What device do you read academic papers with?" - fine "What device do you use to read academic papers?" - fine "What device do you use to read academic papers with?" - ungrammatical
What you're nitpicking is a common and frequently-taught misconception. You can end a sentence with a preposition. Some elitists in the 17th century tried to make English conform to the rules of Latin and those rules have stuck around even though they weren't necessary in the first place, unlike in Latin where a sentence doesn't make sense if you don't follow the rules.
This article gives a few examples of when it's more natural to end a sentence with a preposition (and mentions the history): http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/11/grammar-myths-pre...