It’s wrong to be right

Writers, sometimes it’s wrong for you to write in a way that’s technically correct.

Here’s how Claire Kehrwald Cook explains this phenomenon in Line by Line: How to Edit Your Own Writing:

Idiom, the normal pattern of the language, sometimes runs counter to both grammar and logic, but it must prevail. A construction that sounds wrong to the educated ear works against you, even though it’s arguably correct.

In other words, if a sentence is correct, but sounds funny, consider rewriting it so you don’t distract your reader.

For example, Winston Churchill is reported to have said, “This is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put.” He didn’t believe in mindlessly refusing to put a preposition at the end of a sentence.