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JKBelieve Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

the difference btw 'to' and 'at'

I was just putting together this piece of writing when I came this sentence...

'I will take her out to dinner at a restaurant' and then later on I also found 'I will take her out to dinner to a restaurant'

This really got me confused.... please tell me which one is the correct one... Thanx ^^
  

Top answer

at indicates place/location seen from a distance to shows direction (including for moving, as in this case) In many circumstances, they are used interchangeably. You'll have to do searches on the net to see which is prevalent in a circumstance or another. At Yahoo: "take her to a restaurant" 856 hits, idiomatic because it shows moving "take her at a restaurant: 0 hits, thus not idiomatic "take her to dinner at a restaurant" 11 hits, idiomatic because shows place for diner "take her to dinner to a restaurant" 1, thus less idiomatic Also, make a search at this site with: at to (top right Search corner) to see related threads.

— Marius Hancu

  • at indicates place/location seen from a distance to shows direction (including for moving, as in this case) In many circumstances, they are used interchangeably.
  • You'll have to do searches on the net to see which is prevalent in a circumstance or another.
  • At Yahoo: "take her to a restaurant" 856 hits, idiomatic because it shows moving "take her at a restaurant: 0 hits, thus not idiomatic "take her to dinner at a restaurant" 11 hits, idiomatic because shows place for diner "take her to dinner to a restaurant" 1, thus less idiomatic Also, make a search at this site with: at to (top right Search corner) to see related threads.
  • BTW: >I came this sentence...
  • I came over/at this sentence...
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3 Answers
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at indicates place/location seen from a distance
to shows direction (including for moving, as in this case)

In many circumstances, they are used interchangeably.

You'll have to do searches on the net to see which is prevalent in a circumstance or another.

At Yahoo:

"take her to a restaurant" 856 hits, idi
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Is it better to say 'I will take her out for dinner at a restaurant.' ?
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To take someone out to dinner already implies restaurant, so all you need is:

I'll take her out [to / for] dinner. (to is more common in my area of the world. Both are correct.)

CJ
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