Reply #13: It is the sort of thing up with which I will not put

[muriel_volestrangler]

As Winston Churchill said, quoting Fowler - who, if anyone was, was the expert on standard British English:

It is often said that a sentence should not end with a preposition, so []ithey broke everything they could lay their hands on should be recast as they broke everything on which they could lay their hands.

In a long article, Modern English Usage, second edition, traces the origins of this "cherished superstition" and ends with the advice: "Follow no arbitrary rule but remember there are often two or more possible arrangements between which a choice should be consciously made. If the final preposition that has naturally presented itself sounds comfortable, keep it."

In a sentence like "we should take account of what the readers will be comfortable with" it would be absurd to put the preposition anywhere but at the end.

It was Fowler whom Churchill was quoting when he famously said that such a rule was an imposition "up with which I will not put".

http://www.eng-lang.co.uk/fowler.htm#preposition