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Grammar Rules You Can Break
When and when not to break grammar writing rules
When’s the last time you heard someone say, “About what are you talking?” instead of “What are you talking about?” I wouldn’t be surprised if your answer is “never.”
I only heard it once in my life. A teacher passing a student in the haul asked “About what are you talking?” in a fiction television show. He said it in a humorous manner. He knew no one talks like that.
All the other times, I’ve heard people say, “What are you talking about?” That’s also the way I’ve said it most of my life, and I’m 50 years old. Even some of the most prominent grammar nerds I know say it that way.
It wasn’t always like this, however.
According to 17th-century English rules, the phrase “What are you talking about?” is technically an incorrect statement. It has a preposition at the end of the sentence.
How many times have you heard that we should not put a preposition at the end of a sentence? Yet, in 2025, people break the no-preposition, end-of-sentence rule all the time.
Apparently, it’s because a year prior, Merriam-Webster dictionary says you can, according to NPR…
