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Spooner Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Whether to use "to" or "for"

To/For Thomas Hardy, the most important element in the novel was tention.

Would anyone be kind enough to explain the difference in meaning when using "to" or "for"?

Thanks
  

Top answer

Hi, For Thomas Hardy, the most important element in the novel was tension. It seems easy to explain whether to use "for" or "to" in a specific context, but it's quite difficult to do so as there's no rule which helps us to determine which one is better to use. Generally, even if you use "to" instead of "for" in that sentence, I wouldn't consider it wrong.

— Regards

  • Hi, For Thomas Hardy, the most important element in the novel was tension.
  • It seems easy to explain whether to use "for" or "to" in a specific context, but it's quite difficult to do so as there's no rule which helps us to determine which one is better to use.
  • Generally, even if you use "to" instead of "for" in that sentence, I wouldn't consider it wrong.
  • However, to me "for" has a stronger meaning here.
  • Why did I use "to me" and not "for me"?
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1 Answers
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Hi,

For Thomas Hardy, the most important element in the novel was tension.

It seems easy to explain whether to use "for" or "to" in a specific context, but it's quite difficult to do so as there's no rule which helps us to determine which one is better to use. Generally, even if you use "to" instead of "for" in that sentence, I wouldn't consider it wrong. However, to me "f
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