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- Even if you're aware how bad things are, you should still try not to lose hope.
- Even if you're aware of how bad things are, you should still try not to lose hope.
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- The more I become aware how their culture works, the more amazed I am.
- The more I become aware of how their culture works, the more amazed I am.
I looked at the Ngram chart and turns out aware of how is more common now than aware how. I also looked at some questions on some forum sites and at one question posted here on ellstackexchange itself, and I'm still confused about if one is more grammatically accurate than the other, or if it doesn't matter if you omit the preposition. In the first example, either sentence seems fine to use to me, and in the second, the second sentence seems like a better option to go with.
Does it matter if you omit the preposition following aware? Is it wrong to omit the preposition? Does it depend on the context whether you should omit the preposition? Or does it just come down to personal preference?