This week I’m sharing emails from readers, but I’m not naming names. I don’t want to embarrass anyone.

I’m afraid I disappointed this writer. Here’s her letter. My response follows.

The one error that has become so [pervasive] in our speech is “Where is it at?” or other such stupid sentences ending with the preposition “at.” It bugs me to death. I have noticed this sneaking into our daily speech for years. I have heard teachers say it. I have heard Matt Lauer say it on TV as well as many other announcers that certainly should know better. The younger generation must feel that it is very acceptable because it is all around them.

You should do a column on that and maybe people will think twice before ending a sentence with a preposition!

Your observation is right on the money in the example you provided. “Where is it at?” is indeed incorrect, as the “at” is unnecessary. “Where is it?” is all you need.

But the oft-repeated caution that sentences should never end with prepositions is an outdated, erroneous teaching. Ending a sentence with a preposition is not wrong, despite what many of us were taught as children.

In some cases, a preposition is the most natural way to end a sentence. “Who are you talking to?” for example, is far more natural than “To whom are you talking?”

Can you imagine someone asking, “At what are you looking?” or
“About what are you thinking?”

It’s OK to end a sentence with a preposition as long as that preposition isn’t extraneous, as in the “Where is it at?” example.

Are you familiar with “The Grammar Girl” column and podcasts by Mignon Fogarty? I think she gives a good explanation of the preposition question here.