"For"; adverb or adjective?

Question

There are countless of times where I get confused about whether for is an adj. or adv. phrase.

"I have a message for you"
My Guess: Adj.

"I played the piano for you"
My Guess: Adv.

"I made a cake for my mom"
My Guess: Adv.

The thing is that I can't have a concise explanation FOR them..?LOL
Can someone help me out.

Oh, and the two sentences: "I removed the toxin froms the water" and "I removed the toxins in the water"
Do they mean the same thing, as in the prep. phrase part.

THANKSS!

Avangi · Accepted Answer

BlackBlitz"I have a message for you"
My Guess: Adj.

"I played the piano for you"
My Guess: Adv.

"I made a cake for my mom"
My Guess: Adv.

The thing is that I can't have a concise explanation FOR them..?LOL
Can someone help me out. These are all prepositions, used to indicate the indirect object of the verb.

Oh, and the two sentences: "I removed the toxin froms the water" and "I removed the toxins in the water"
Do they mean the same thing, as in the prep. phrase part. Yes, assuming the "s" on "froms" belongs on the "toxin." "I removed the toxins [which were] in the water."

Edit. Sorry, I misread your last question. I don't see which words you refer to as being in the prep. phrase part and your final examples.

Actually, I guess I misread the whole thing. It the first four examples, I suppose you could say that the four indirect objects describe the action of the main verb, and therefore the prepositional phrases are adverbial. (They're clearly not adjectival.) But I don't believe we traditionally think of objects as modifiers. Maybe some people do.

In your last examples, "from the water" and "in the water" are examples of prepositions functioning in the "other" way, indicating the relationship of the noun which follows them, to some other word in the sentence.
You'll have fun with this, because the first one relates to the verb "removed" and the second one relates to the noun "toxins." (removed from the water / toxins in the water)

BlackBlitzThere are countless of times where I get confused about whether for is an adj. or adv. phrase.

This is a little misleading. "For" is not a phrase; "for" is a preposition. I know you realize that. You might say "I get confused about whether the "for" phrase is adjectival or adverbial."

OR "whether the prepositional phrase is adjectival or adverbial."

OR "whether the "for" phrase functions as an adj. or an adv."

"For"; adverb or adjective?

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