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So I was hoping to know if the phrase

as many as I can think of

is improper or incorrect because it ends with the word "of"? What would be a way to minimally change this to not violate any don't-end-with-a-preposition guideline?

And yes - I know it's not really a big problem to do this, I am just curious if there is a "proper" way to write it. :)

Community
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mikeybaby173
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2 Answers2

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You could try to change "think of" for some alternative verb that doesn't end in "of", so instead of (I just ended this sentence with of!)

as many as I can think of

maybe try

as many as I can recall

or

as many as I can imagine

depending on the context.

Ronan
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It depends if the piece is formal or causal. For a formal writing, try, "as many of which I can think."

If that doesn't set right with you, try restructuring the sentence as previously suggested (ie: as many as I can imagine)

Robert
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  • "As many as I can think of" returns 30 pages of Google hits. "As many of which I can think" returns none. This is not an improvement, even in formal writing. – Peter Shor Sep 21 '14 at 21:49
  • Perhaps as many as* of which I can think* would be better? But, on the whole, I think this is just another example, should one be needed, of the problems caused by the injunction never to end a sentence with a preposition. Or, as someone once put it, "Trailing prepositions are something up with which I shall not put!" – Pitarou Sep 22 '14 at 00:30