This money was mostly to tackle youth unemployment

Question

1) The prize is to attract more customers.2) This money was mostly to tackle youth unemployment.3) The prize is for attracting more customers.4) This money was mostly for tackling youth unemployment.Here I want to indicate purpose. Are they all idiomatic/correct? Can (1), (2), (3) and (4) all indicate purpose? If so, are (1) and (3), (2) and (4) interchangeable?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Rizan Malik1) The prize is to attract more customers.
2) This money was mostly to tackle youth unemployment.

The infinitive of purpose is not used as a subject complement, i.e., after the linking verb be. It is usually found after a full clause.

We offered a prize (in order) to attract more customers.
They donated the money mostly (in order) to tackle youth unemployment.

When an infinitive is used as a subject complement, the subject is almost never a common noun like 'prize' or 'money'. It's something abstract like 'purpose', 'aim', 'idea', 'objective', or 'reaction'. And it is not an infinitive of purpose in the sense of revealing a purpose for a given action. It simply says what the purpose, idea, objective, or reaction, etc. is or was.

The purpose was to read ...; The aim was to slash costs ...;
The idea was to encourage ...; My advice was to relax ...;
Another mistake was to take ...;
Our original plan was to attend ...;
The objective was to pay ...;
Their reaction was to dismantle ....

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

Rizan Malik3) The prize is for attracting more customers.
4) This money was mostly for tackling youth unemployment.

OK. I suppose you could say that these show purpose, but, perhaps as a subset of purpose, they more precisely show use.

The prize is used for ...; This money was used mostly for ....
OR
The prize is to be used for ...; This money was to be used mostly for ....

Other examples of purpose/use:

Buffalo skin was for making shields.
The second building was for making candles.
This newfangled device is for making appointments.

for-phrases of this kind are also used to show exchange. I would not classify these under 'purpose', though I suppose this point is debatable.

Usually it's the exchange of a punishment for some kind of infraction of laws.

One of his reasons for discharging Bauer was for carrying a small knife.
The suspension of her driving license was for leaving the scene of an accident.
The petty theft conviction was for leaving a store without paying for sewing materials.

But the exchange may be of a reward for good work:

The award was for carrying a wounded officer to safety.

CJ

This money was mostly to tackle youth unemployment

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