He did a favor for/to my sister.

Question

What's the difference between them?He did a favor for my sister.He did a favor to my sister.It was a shock for me.It was a shock to me.I'm grateful to him.I'm grateful for him.thanks in advacne.

Old Man Gordon · Accepted Answer

Do a favor for someone

For shock, both are used

grateful to a person (for his help)

grateful for a thing. You can also be grateful for a person, if you are thankful that the person is with you. In that case, you might be grateful to ***, fate, or nature.

Avangi · Answer

kis7385What's the difference between them?

It was a shock for me.

It was a shock to me. Not much.
When I read it, "to me" stresses the effect of the shock. (This is what happened to me.)

"For me" stresses that I'm the one who received it. (I'm the one that this happened to - rather than someone else. For someone else, it might have been something other than a shock.)

Kooyeen · Answer

I know you say "Do me a favor", so I thought I had to say "He did a favor to his sister". And my dictionaries (Longman and Oxford) are misleading then: they both give examples like "I am going as a favor to Ann, not because I really want to".
This is confusing... [:^)]

Avangi · Answer

KooyeenI know you say "Do me a favor", so I thought I had to say "He did a favor to his sister".

Hi, Kooyeen,
Longman and Oxford are right, IMHO.

The difference lies not in the recipient of the favor, but in the structure of the phrase.
So don't be doing "favors" to my sister.
In "do me a favor," the indirect object is indicated by its place in the sentence.
Give me the box. Give the box to me. You can't always turn it around.
Please lift this box for me. Please lift me this box. Hmmm. I don't think so.
The preposition depends on the verb. (Okay, "bring it to me" is not the same as "do it to me.")

If I give a present to Ann, I'm not doing something to Ann.
I suppose in this sense, "Do me a favor" is an idiom. (Did you think we should also say, "Do a favor to me"?)

(Geez, I'm making a mess of this!)
I'm doing X as a favor to Ann. What I'm doing is X. I'm not doing anything to Ann.
I'm describing X as a favor. What kind of favor? A favor to/for Ann. ("To" is more common.)
This is a favor to Ann.
I do this out of respect to/for Ann. I direct this respect/favor to Ann.

Anonymous · Answer

it was so helpful.

Thanks

CalifJim · Answer

kis7385He did a favor for my sister. Correct.

He did a favor to my sister. Wrong.

As shown.

An indirect object can usually be expressed as a prepositional phrase with "to" or "for". Which preposition you choose depends on the verb.

I gave him some advice. > I gave some advice to him.
I bought her a necklace. > I bought a necklace for her.

However, there are some verbs that take indirect objects that cannot be expressed as a prepositional phrase at all.

I asked them a question.
~~I asked a question to them.~~
~~I asked a question for them.~~

So 'give' takes a 'to-phrase', 'buy' takes a 'for-phrase' and 'ask can't take either of those.

To do someone a favor takes a for-phrase: To do a favor for someone.

CJ

He did a favor for/to my sister.

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