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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > It is used to cut food (with)?
It is used to cut food (with)?
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Ruwayda37
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It is used to cut food (with)?
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Hello my colleagues,
I must begin by thanking you for always taking the time to help me. I appreciate your contant support. Would you be so kind as to help me with this question too:
"We use knives to cut food with."
"We use saws to cut wood."
Why is the preposition "with" use at the end of the first sentence but not used at the end of the other one? What is the name of grammar rule that guides us here? Thanks again
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5 Nov 2014
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Matthew@ELSP
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We cut food with knives
or
We use knives to cut food (with).
We cut wood with a saw
or
We use a saw to cut wood (with).
I see no grammatical difference here. It seems that you have 2 sentences in which you can choose to use the �sentence ending preposition � (with) or choose to drop it.
As for a grammar rule, unless I am mistaken, there is none guiding you here.
There is a choice of style, I think.
At one time English teachers taught that a sentence could not end with a preposition, but now many think of it as a matter of good/poor style and nothing more.
Perhaps when you wrote �grammar rule �, you were thinking about moving the preposition from behind the verb phrase to the end of the sentence. If so, I am unsure how to quantify this for you as a rule, sorry.
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5 Nov 2014
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yanogator
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Both are correct with or without "with". Using "with"sort of emphasizes the tool aspect of the statement. Without "with" it is more a statement of the process. It is a very small distinction.
Bruce
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5 Nov 2014
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Ruwayda37
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Thanks a million, Matthew and Bruce! |
5 Nov 2014
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