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  • Hi again. Welcome back to Engvid.com. I'm Adam, and today's lesson is about prepositions.

  • Everybody's favourite little words that get in the middle of everything.

  • And cause you lots of troubles, and headaches, and confusion.

  • Especially if you're writing, this is the worst part, but even if you're not, always causes problems.

  • Today's prepositions that we're going to look at: "to" and "for."

  • Now, there isn't really a set rule for these prepositions, they can be used in many different ways.

  • What I'm going to try to show you today is when to use "to" instead of "for", when to use "for" instead of "to."

  • Now, to do that, we first have to look at why or situations in which we use these prepositions.

  • So let's start. If you want to express a reason, okay.

  • Then you're going to use "to" or "for".

  • "I went to the store", "why?" "To buy milk." "I went to the store", "why?" "For milk."

  • What's the difference between these two? Should be very clear I think. Here I have a verb.

  • Here I'm only talking about the noun so we use "to".

  • Now, technically, this is not a preposition. Okay. This is an infinitive verb marker, but it looks like a preposition.

  • So we'll treat it as one for now. Verb, noun, that's the difference when you're talking about reason.

  • Now, before we go to the next one, I want you to look at this.

  • "I went to the store", whenever you have a sort of a movement. Sorry. And you have a destination.

  • So by movement I mean: "go", "walk", "drive", "take the bus," for example.

  • Anything that involves you moving or going somewhere .

  • And then you're talking about the destination means the place that you are going to.

  • It's always going to be "to", and this is very much a preposition showing direction. Okay?

  • Now, there are of course exceptions. There are situations where you can use "for".

  • "Head for the hills", "Make for the lobby", okay, but very, very specific situations.

  • Very specific verbs and you're not going to use them that often because they're not as common.

  • Easier to just use "go", okay? Next, if you want to point out a recipient.

  • What is a recipient? A person who receives something. Okay?

  • "Give this to her.", "This is for her." Now you're thinking: "Well, her, her, what's the difference? They look exactly the same."

  • So here is why I wrote: "verb". In this situation, you're not worried about the preposition.

  • You're worried about the verb. In this case, "give", in this case: "is". Okay?

  • When you... again, when you have motion.

  • And here, "her" or the person is like a destination. It's not a place, but it's the recipient.

  • Recipient is similar to a destination except you have place and person. Okay?

  • You have motion and recipient, use "to". When you have situation, then you're going to use "for". Okay?

  • So it all depends on the verb, not the preposition.

  • Now, another example, "Can you send this fax to her?" "Send" means motion, you're gonna be doing something.

  • You're gonna be moving something. "I made this cake for her."

  • "Made", you're not moving anything, nothing's changing hands. Right? You made it.

  • This is the situation and it's for her. Eventually she will be the recipient.

  • "I made this for her. Can you give it to her?" Right? So I'm using both: one motion "to", situation "for".

  • Here's another one, intention. What do you want the person to do?

  • So, "Ask John", or: "Could you please ask John to send me the file?", "Ask John for the file."

  • Again, we have two verbs of the infinitive and we have "for", a noun.

  • Now, the meaning here is pretty much the same. It's all about the expectation. What do you expect?

  • When you say: "to send", you're expecting an action, you're concerned about this.

  • You want John to do this. If you're using "for", you care more about the file.

  • You don't care how John gets it. If he like picks it up and walks it over, great. You care about the file.

  • Here, you care about the action. Care about the action, here you care about the thing.

  • Now, in this case, the verb is not so important. It's the meaning, the intention.

  • But, I'm going to look at a few more examples where the verb makes all the difference.

  • Okay, so here are a few more examples, and remember what I said about the verbs.

  • Different verbs will use "to" and "for" differently. Right?

  • "Invite". "Invite someone to a party", but "Invite someone for dinner."

  • You could invite them to dinner, but it's a little bit different meaning.

  • If you invite someone to dinner, means the event of the dinner. So this is about the event. Okay?

  • The social event like a party, a wedding, a dinner where many people come and sit together.

  • "Invite someone for dinner." means invite them to eat. Okay? Just to come and have food.

  • If you invite someone to dinner, you're inviting them to the dinner party.

  • It's a little bit different. Here you're inviting for a thing. Here you're inviting for an event.

  • Now, I put this in a question form and you'll understand why in a second.

  • "What did you do to him?", "What did you do for him?"

  • The first one: "What did you do to him?" means you directed some sort of action at him. You... "I yelled at him." Okay?

  • "What did I do for him?" I did something on his behalf, instead of him. Okay?

  • "I took the test for him." Now, so we'll... we'll call this a directed action.

  • And we'll say on behalf means in his place. Now, you notice the answers? Did you notice my answers?

  • "What did you do to him?", "I yelled at him." I'm not using "to" or "for" in the answer.

  • I'm showing "at" him means in that direction, the yelling, but "What did you do for him?".

  • "I took his test for him." Okay? So there I could use "for him" in the answer.

  • "To" I can't use in the answer, only in the question with "do." Oh sorry, with "do". Okay?

  • Now, we can also use "to" and "for" as a complement, mean a complement is a phrase that completes the meaning of something before.

  • So I want to say,

  • "To make a...use spiced Clamato juice." For what? To make a perfect Caesar."

  • A Caesar is a drink, it's an alcoholic drink. Vodka, Clamato juice, tabasco, a little spices, it's very delicious.

  • Very Canadian drink. "For a perfect Caesar, use spiced Clamato."

  • Again, I have the infinitive verb, I have the "for" thing, noun/verb.

  • That's the only difference when we're talking about complement. Okay, and finally let's look at "used to".

  • So, "be used to", "be used for". Very different meanings and uses here.

  • "Be used to", for example, "I am used to the weather in Canada".

  • So for example, many people come to Canada in the winter, they're like "Oh my God, it's so cold here", they're shocked.

  • But me, I'm used to it. I'm comfortable with it. I'm familiar with it.

  • I can also be... I can also use "Be used to" to show purpose.

  • So, "this marker is used to write things with", but with "for", I can only use it for a use or a purpose.

  • "This marker is used for writing". I can only talk about the purpose, the... what... how this tool is being used.

  • What is the use of it? Okay? So that's the difference between "be used to" and "be used for".

  • Now, I know it's still a little bit confusing.

  • But if you go to Engvid.com, there's a quiz there that you can practice "to" and "for".

  • And of course, check me out on YouTube. Subscribe to my channel.

  • And I'll see you again, real soon. Bye.

Hi again. Welcome back to Engvid.com. I'm Adam, and today's lesson is about prepositions.

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