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When is it appropriate to end a sentence in a preposition?

I would like to know which is correct and why:

There is a new search of which I've become aware.

or

There is a new search I've become aware of.

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"I've become aware of a new search" – Henry Mar 10 '12 at 11:17
@Henry, yes I know but I am interested in these variants. – Pietroo Mar 10 '12 at 11:19
You could look it up. – Robusto Mar 10 '12 at 13:28

marked as duplicate by Robusto, Matt Эллен, RegDwighт♦ Mar 10 '12 at 13:20

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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

Both are possible English sentences, but the first is perhaps more likely to be found in formal contexts.

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thanks, I assume in this context "of which" is not possisive like "whose"..? – Pietroo Mar 10 '12 at 11:30
@Pietroo: ‘Possessive’ is not always a very helpful or accurate grammatical description anyway, but the point here is simply that the verb is ‘be aware OF’. – Barrie England Mar 10 '12 at 11:41
up vote 1 down vote

I think the latter is often used, because some of us were taught in grammar school that prepositions were not words to end sentences with. So, when we encounter a sentence that terminates with a preposition, we apply a knee-jerk "fix" to the problem, by using the construct in your latter example (even though Henry's edit would have been better). Hence,

Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

becomes

Prepositions are not words with which to end sentences.

which may have kept our middle-school grammar teacher happy, even though

Don't end sentences with prepositions.

would be the better correction.

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