� why do we have the rule about not ending a sentence with a preposition? �
That's not a
grammar rule and never was.
It comes from the old-time rhetoricians'
advice against "wasting" the last word's strong position on a weak word.
Ending a sentence with a preposition has always been a legitimate practice in English. I like to quote what is probably the record � a tad's sentence that ends with no less than
five prepositions
with completely correct grammar. The boy's father had brought the wrong book upstairs to the boy's bed room, and the boy asked �
"What did you bring the book that I don't want to be read-to out of up for?"
Could've been said somewhat more elegantly, perhaps, but perfectly legitimate grammatical construction.
Which and
that have to do with meaning and punctuation.
"The cartridge
that I selected" refers to the cartridge in a significantly different sense from "the cartridge, which I selected" (notice the comma). The technical terms are "restrictive clause" for
that and "nonrestrictive clause" for
which.
I'm too tired tonight to explain fully, and I doubt that many here would care to hear the full explanation. But there's the crux of the matter �
distinguishing between two different meanings.
