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As I understand, keeping prepositions from the end of a sentence is a cardinal rule with no exceptions. However, "To whose dog does this ball belong?" does not seem correct to me at all. How should this sentence be structured?

user1103
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1 Answers1

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This "cardinal rule" is a myth that needs to be put to rest. It makes me think of This is the sort of English up with which I will not put!

I wouldn't say "To whose dog does this ball belong" is ungrammatical (just awkward), but "Whose dog does this ball belong to?" is much more natural and idiomatic.

From a blog article at oxforddictionaries.com:

...there are four main types of situation in which it is more natural to end a sentence or clause with a preposition:

  • passive structures (she enjoys being fussed over)
  • relative clauses (they must be convinced of the commitment that they are taking on)
  • infinitive structures (Tom had no-one to play with)
  • questions beginning with who, where, what, etc. (what music are you interested in?)

(Grammar myths #1: is it wrong to end a sentence with a preposition?)

Nonnal
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A.P.
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    @Hugh Is that relevant to the question? – Jeremy Dec 01 '15 at 19:12
  • The "on" in the second example ("...they are taking on") looks more like an adverb than a preposition to me. – Andreas Blass Dec 01 '15 at 23:02
  • @Hugh I'm not making an argument based on etymology but on usage. My argument is enclosed in sentence #2, This is the sort of English up with which I will not put!. That's it. Now, I have no reason to question the reasoning in the oxforddictionaries.com post, but I quoted only the relevant part, which I think is a nice summary of obvious cases where a stranded preposition is idiomatic. – A.P. Dec 02 '15 at 05:52
  • No, I know you're not. But since the "cardinal rule" was held so fiercely and for so long I thought it worth saying that it was not simply made up to annoy schoolchildren, It is based on rhetorical advice not to end a paragraph with a weak word because, if you do, it just sort of tails off. – Hugh Dec 02 '15 at 12:41
  • Andreas Blass, it might be interpreted as a phrasal verb. – Rodney Atkins Jul 19 '18 at 21:56