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.