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Navitasan Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

For using

1-I paid him two dollars for using his phone.

Is it possible that I had not used the phone yet when I paid him, but was going to use it?

2-I paid him twenty five dollars for repairing my computer.

Is it possible that he had not yet repaired my computer when I paid him, but was going to do so?

Gratefully,
Navi,
  

Top answer

1. With the preposition "for," the sentence is understood to mean: You paid him $2 to use his phone and then used it. ", this would also generally mean that you paid $2 and then used the phone, but here, with the preposition "to," the possibility exists that you paid the $2 but did not use the phone for some reason.

— Anonymous

  • 1.
  • With the preposition "for," the sentence is understood to mean: You paid him $2 to use his phone and then used it.
  • ", this would also generally mean that you paid $2 and then used the phone, but here, with the preposition "to," the possibility exists that you paid the $2 but did not use the phone for some reason.
  • ) However, this is awkward, because the past tense denotes action in the past, as in a narrative, and if you paid him $2 in the past, then the likelihood is that the repair has been completed.
  • So this type of sentence, in this sense, would rarely be used in narration.
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2 Answers
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1. With the preposition "for," the sentence is understood to mean: You paid him $2 to use his phone and then used it. If you had said: "I paid him $2 to use his phone.", this would also generally mean that you paid $2 and then used the phone, but here, with the preposition "to," the possibility exists that you paid the $2 but did not use the phone for some reason.

If you want to conve
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navitasan1-I paid him two dollars for using his phone. Is it possible that I had not used the phone yet when I paid him,
The implied meaning of the above sentence is that you had used his phone and paid him $2.
navitasan2-I paid him twenty five dollars for repairing my computer.Is it pos
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