Lynne's Responses in WyzAnt Answers

Yes, you may definitely end a sentence with a preposition, when appropriate. There is no such rule against it anymore. I have worked in the professional world of publishing before I became interested in education, and so I am perhaps more aware of changes that have happened to the English language in the past few decades.  It is an obsolete rule that was based on Latin. However, people eventually figured out that trying to apply Latin grammar rules to English is just silly. 

For more information, please see: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ending-prepositions.aspx

and

http://lisakusko.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/lies-your-english-teacher-told-you/

Active sentences are generally more interesting, but there are a small number of instances in which using the passive voice makes more sense. For example, "I've been shot!" is much better than "An unknown assailant shot me" when you want to emphasize the fact that the main character has just been shot. In this case, the most important person in the sentence is the victim, not the unknown shooter.

Later in the story, it might be more important who did the shooting and then you might write instead, "Harvey shot me!" In that case, an accusation is being made and therefore it is the shooter who is the most important person in that sentence. (Notice that I said "an accusation is being made" instead of "someone made an accusation." I did that because I wanted the emphasis on the accusation and not the accuser.)

Most of the time you will need to use active voice, but if you find a sentence in which using active voice doesn't sound right, do this. Ask yourself, where does the emphasis belong? Who or what is the most important thing or person in the sentence, given the context?