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Joe2012 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Regarding the preposition of and for

Sentence: "He must pay the price of/for these crimes"

My question: Which preposition, of or for, would be 'appropriate' in the sentence ? My own sense is both are correct but I'm confused regarding the difference they(preposition) are creating. So there are two things I'd like to know from the members. First is whether both the prepositions are correct or not ? And secondly what difference they will make.

Thanks
  

Top answer

He must pay the price for these crimes.

— Dave Phillips

  • He must pay the price for these crimes.
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13 Answers
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He must pay the price for these crimes.
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For me, only "for" works. "for" seems to have the required sense of a deserved consequence or punishment which "of" lacks. I find it quite hard to explain, though, because "pay the price of" sounds OK in seemingly similar contexts such as "Shareholders pay the price of failure" (a randomly Googled headline).
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Thanks Dave and Wordy. Wordy I can understand what you are trying...here is what another English teacher told me in another forum. Check this compressed link of that forum. http://budurl.com/5jas
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The explanation at that forum was my first thought too. Unfortunately it does not seem to be the full answer because "pay the price of" is used figuratively (as in "pay the price of success" for example).
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"Unfortunately it does not seem to be the full answer because "pay the price of" is used figuratively (as in "pay the price of success" for example)"

Hmmmm. So are we caught in a sort of catch 22 situation ?
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RazerBut I'm anyway going with 'for'.
Yes, there is no dispute that "for" is the correct choice in your sentence.
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I see pay as a verb with two complements, either of which may be omitted.
The first is the amount, possibly expressed in terms of the price of something; the second is what is obtained in exchange for the payment.

He must pay $20.

He must pay [the price of $20].
He must pay for the book.

He must pay $20 for the book.
He mus
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CalifJimThe first is the amount, possibly expressed in terms of the price of something; the second is what is obtained in exchange for the payment.
It's true that in "He must pay the price of/for these crimes", the crimes are not the thing actually paid (i.e. an actual or figurative amount). However, I don't at the moment see how this explai
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Mr WordyI don't at the moment see how this explains why only "for" works.
In other words, you don't see why "of" doesn't work.

How about this?

When we say, "That's the price of success", don't we mean "That's what you have to do in order to obtain success"? (Yes.)

So, when we say, "That's the price of these crimes", do we mean "Tha
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CalifJimI know this is a bit lame, so go ahead and shoot holes in it if you wish
OK then!

How about "Paying the price of failure"? That also sounds OK to me, but doesn't seem amenable to this explanation. In fact, even "Paying the price of crime" works for me.
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