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Seagull Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

Throw A at / to B

Hello everyone. I have a questions.

Regarding the following two sentences:

(A) On the evening of Setsubun, people throw soy beans at demons to get evil spirits away.

(B) On the evening of Setsubun, people throw soy beans to demons to get evil spirits away.

I think that (A) is correct and (B) sounds strange, but I don't know the reason for it very well. Is this because (B) sounds like people throw beans to give them to the demons?

  

Top answer

seagull On the evening of Setsubun, people throw soy beans at others dressed up as demons to get ward off evil spiri t s. away. If you use "to", that would suggest a friendly action.

  • seagull On the evening of Setsubun, people throw soy beans at others dressed up as demons to get ward off evil spiri t s.
  • away.
  • If you use "to", that would suggest a friendly action.
  • For example, people playing together might throw a ball to (not at) each other.
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2 Answers
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seagullOn the evening of Setsubun, people throw soy beans at others dressed up as demons to get ward off evil spirits. away.

If you use "to", that would suggest a friendly action. For example, people playing

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seagullI think that (A) is correct and (B) sounds strange... Is this because (B) sounds like people throw beans to give them to the demons?

That's true about 'at' vs 'to', but in fact, both sound strange for another reason. The correct sentence is:

On the evening of Setsubun, people throw soy beans at demons to

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