to vs for: riktning, syfte och givande

01to: direction and recipients

Use to for movement toward a destination — go to school, fly to Tokyo — and for the recipient of giving, sending, and saying: give it to me, send the file to her, explain it to the team. Picture an arrow leaving you and landing on someone or somewhere.

02for: purpose and benefit

Use for for purpose and benefit: this gift is for you, a tool for cutting, study English for work. Durations belong here too: stay for two hours, lived there for years. If you can insert in order to or on behalf of, for is usually right.

03Giving shows both at once

Compare the classic pair: I bought flowers for my mother — she benefits. I gave the flowers to my mother — she receives. Buying serves her interests; giving moves the object into her hands. Many sentences need both: buy it for her, then give it to her.

Then memorize the fixed adjectives: married to, engaged to, similar to, used to — but responsible for, famous for, ready for, late for. These pairings never follow the general rule by logic alone; store each adjective with its partner as one chunk.

04One verb trap: suggest

Explain takes to — explain it to me — but suggest never takes a person with to. Say suggest a restaurant, suggest going early, or suggest that we leave. Writing suggest to me is a classic exam error: when in doubt, give suggest a thing or an idea, never a recipient.

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