| Hi, everybody. My name is Alisha. In this video, I'm going to talk about eight ways to use the preposition "for." Let's get started. |
| Okay. The first use is purpose. So, we use "for" to express the purpose or the use of something. We can use this to talk about places, the purpose of a place, the purpose of an object, and so on. So, let's look at some examples. |
| First, "This textbook is for my science class." So, here, "for" is before "my science class." In this sentence, "this textbook," our subject matches with "my science class." So, we show that the use or the purpose of the textbook, the thing that the textbook is used for, or the thing that the textbook is used to do, is "my science class." In this case, we're not talking about an action, we're talking about an object, and the thing the object is used for, the thing that the object is used to do. So, in this case, "to study for my science class." |
| Okay. Let's look at another example. "The conference room is for meetings." So, here, we have "for" before "meetings." This shows the purpose of the conference room is meetings. This is another way to understand this sentence. Again, we have our subject here, "the conference room," and the part following "for" which shows the use of the subject. So, we can kind of think of these two parts of these. Sentences is kind of a pair, kind of matching. So, it's a thing and the thing that it is used to do. Okay, one more. "Here's an idea for a new product." "Here's an idea for a new product." So, this sentence is expressing a new product as like the purpose of the idea. So, we can think of this in like brainstorming sessions as well. So, when you think of, in this case, a new idea or a new concept, you are sharing your concept and the purpose of that concept at the same time. So, "Here's an idea for a new product." So, this is expressing the purpose of the idea or the use of the idea, in this case. So, these are some different ways that we express the purpose or the use of something with "for." |
| Okay. Let's continue to the second use of "for" for this lesson. The second use is duration. So, duration means length of time. Let's look at the examples here. First, "He has lived here for six years." "He has lived here for six years." So, please note when you use this "for," you need to use the plural form of the, in this case, years that follows. So, when we use our time measurement, like year or hour, minute, second, and so on, we need to use the plural form here as long as it's not one. Of course, if it's one year, we need to use just the singular form. But, generally, we need to use the plural form in sentences like these that express a duration of time, a length of time. So, we cannot use "to" here. "He has lived here to six years," is incorrect. "For" is used to talk about the length of time. |
| Let's look at the next example sentence. "They talked for two hours." "They talked for two hours." Again, we have "for" before our duration, our length of time, and we're using the plural form, "two hours." Okay? So, "They talked for two hours." This means their discussion was a two-hour time period. That was the duration of their talk. Okay. One more example of this. "We waited for about 15 minutes." "We waited for about 15 minutes." Here, we have "for" before "about 15 minutes." So, if you want to make a guess or express something close to this time, you can use "about" in this position. Don't put "about" before this, "We waited about for 15 minutes." No, don't do that. Put it before the duration of time, "We waited for about 15 minutes," is perfect. So, we can use "for" to talk about duration as well. It's usually very clear when we are using "for" to describe duration because there's this kind of length of time expression after the preposition. Okay, great. So, let's continue to the next use of "for." |
| The next use of "for," number three, describes a status or a condition. We use this "for" a lot when we want to like express an emotion that we feel, but for someone else. So, sometimes, we feel, you know, happy or sad or excited about someone else's news, and we use "for" to express that. So, let's break down these example sentences. First, one very, very common expression. "I'm so happy for you!" "I'm so happy for you!" So, this sentence means I feel very, very happy because of something that happened in your life. So, we do not use "to" to express this. Sometimes, I see learners say something like, "I'm so happy to you," but we do not express it in this way. We say, "I'm so happy for you!" "You got a new job. I'm so happy for you!" So, expressing with "for you" shows that you care about the other person's condition or status. You have this emotion and you want to express it for that other person. Use "for" to do that. |
| Let's look at another example of this. "This is great news for the company." "This is great news for the company." So, again, we have kind of this status or this condition. Something happened, "This is great news for the company." So, in this case, we want to express this condition is true for this organization in this case. So, maybe the CEO says this, "This is great news for the company!" So, this means that this condition or this status is something that we want to make clear is for this. Like kind of the destination of this feeling or this condition is the company. So, it's not me, but it's the company. I feel this way, I feel this way, but it's about the company. So, we use "for" to do this. Again, not "to." "This is great news for the company." |
| Okay, one more example of this. "The lecture was hard for the students to understand." "The lecture was hard for the students to understand." So, in this situation, here is kind of the status or the condition, maybe the opinion in this case, "the lecture was hard." And, here, we have "for the students." So, that means, in this case, maybe the lecture was not hard for the professor. The lecture was not hard for the teacher. But, we want to again show this condition should be applied to this group. In this case, the students. The lecture was hard for the students to understand. Maybe the lecture was easy for another professor to understand, but we want to focus on this group here. We use "for" to do that. "The lecture was hard for the students to understand." So, again, this use number three, to express a status or condition, is something that we do when we want to express like an opinion, or a condition, or an emotion. And, we want to be specific about the person, or the organization, or the group of people that we want to apply that emotion to, or that condition to. |
| Okay. So, with that in mind, let's continue on to number four. We're going to change the feel a lot with number four. Number four is old-fashioned "because." So, yes, this is an old-fashioned use and we don't use this so much in everyday communication. However, you may see this and you may hear this in media and in stories. It is still used, especially in older stories that are still very, very famous stories. So, let's take a look at some examples and see how this is used. So, first one is a sad one, but "He remembers that day for it was a sad day." "He remembers that day for it was a sad day." In this sentence, we can replace "for" with "because," and the sentence stays the same. "He remembers that day because it was a sad day." Okay. So, here "for" 100% replaces "because." But, the difference is that this sentence sounds much more old-fashioned. We would not say this sentence in everyday communication now unless we want to express a kind of old-fashioned or maybe very dramatic feel. So, this is 100% the same meaning but just sounds older. |
| Let's look at another example. "They walked home quickly for the night was cold and dark." So, here, we have they walked home quickly "for" the night was cold and dark. Again, we can just replace "for" with "because" and the sentence is the same. "They walked home quickly because the night was cold and dark." This is a much more natural sentence in today's modern English, but using "for" here makes it sound older, much older. Okay, last example. "She went into the town for she had many errands to attend to." "She went into the town for she had many errands to attend to." Again, exactly the same as "because," "She went into the town because she had many errands to attend to." So, I wanted to include this because even though we don't use it so much in everyday communication now, we do still see this from time to time. And, you might think, "For?! Is this about purpose here?" And, this expresses the same meaning as "because." So, if you like watching old movies, you might hear this expression quite often. So, keep an ear out for it. And, of course, if you like to read old books, you will probably see this a lot. So, that's what it means. |
| Okay, let's continue to number five. Number five I think is a pretty easy one to understand. We use "for" to express the recipient of something, the person who gets something, or the person who receives something. So, let's look at the examples here. "The boy drew a picture for his mother." "The boy drew a picture for his mother." So, here, "for" comes before "his mother." She is the person who received the picture. So, it's like saying the reason someone did something is for giving it to this person, or in order to give it to this person. We describe the recipient with "for," or we preface the recipient with "for." Next example, "I bought this coffee for you." "I bought this coffee for you." So, again, we have "for" before the person receiving. So, in this case, the coffee. "Oh, you bought this coffee? Okay, great." "For you." So, we can do this to express who is receiving something. |
| One more, "Flowers?! For me?! How nice!" So, we can also do this to talk about ourselves when we receive something. In this case, the person receives some flowers. "Flowers?! For me?!" So, that's this part right here is expressing, "Oh my gosh! I am the recipient of the flowers?" We're expressing some surprise here with this. "For me?! Oh, my gosh, how nice." So, we do use this "for" to express the recipients of things. This is just one way to express this giving and receiving type of pattern. Of course, there are many ways to express that someone gave something or received something. This is just one pattern you can use to talk about this giving/receiving relationship. |
| Okay, great. Let's continue on to number six. Number six is also I think a pretty easy one to understand quickly because it uses numbers. We use "for" to express prices and rates and sales and discounts, these kinds of things. So, let's look at some examples. First one, "I got this shirt for $20!" "I got this shirt for $20!" "For" is before the price of the item. In this case, "I got this shirt for $20!" Another way to say this is "I bought this shirt and the price was $20." But, "for $20" is a very quick and short way to say it. Yeah? Okay, let's look at the next example. |
| This is an example of a discount expression. "The electronic store is having a 2-for-1 sale!" "The electronic store is having a 2-for-1 sale!" Here is the "for" I want to focus on. This is an expression that you might see in any kind of store. You can imagine actually, "a 2-for-2 sale." Maybe 3-for-1, I don't know. But, this means you can get two objects -- in this case, markers in this example, two for the price of one. So, this means if a marker costs $1.00, you can get two markers for $1. So, you can buy two items for the price of one item. We express this very quickly with 2-for-1, or 3-for-1, and so on. So this expresses the price of an item or the discount rate in this case. |
| Okay, let's look at one more example. "The hotel gave us bags for free!" "The hotel gave us bags for free!" So, when something costs zero dollars, when something costs nothing, we express that with "free," right? Something is free. When you want to talk about something you received for no money, you use "for" to do that. "We got this free!" "She got that for free!" So, use "for" to describe those things that cost nothing as well. So, you can use "for" in this way to talk about prices, rates, sales, and so on. Okay, great. |
| Let's move on to the last two points for this lesson. The last two points I want to talk about are kind of more grammatically focused. So, it's not so much about the meaning, but rather the grammatical purpose of the preposition. So, we use the preposition "for" with gerund. So, if you don't know what a gerund is, that's when you take a verb, you take the verb and you use it in the -ing form, but you use it as a noun. When we do this, we use "for" before that word. So, what does that mean? What does that look like? Let's look at some examples. Here's one. "This part of the computer is for storing data." "This part of the computer is for storing data." Here, we have "for," plus "storing," storing. So, to "store" means to keep something, like in a computer data in a computer. So, we use this "for" -ing pattern. |
| You might also know the infinitive pattern. Something, something, something "to" verb. That's a very common thing that we maybe run into questions about. "Should I use the infinitive form? Should I use the gerund form?" And, one error I sometimes see is learners try to mix the two. They say like, "for store data," or "to storing data," something like that. So, the rule is please use "for" with gerund. So, don't try to mix like "for store" or "to storing," something like that. Make sure when you're using the gerund form here, you precede it with "for." Let's look at another example. "A sharp knife is important for cutting vegetables." "A sharp knife is important for cutting vegetables." So, here is my gerund, "for cutting vegetables," and we have "for" before this. Okay. So, "A sharp knife is important for cutting vegetables." |
| So, another point that I want to make is that we can sometimes use either the gerund form or the infinitive form, and depending on the verb, we can choose between the two. Sometimes, both are totally fine to use, sometimes you need to use one or the other. And, in those cases, in the cases where you can choose either one, it's up to you. But, you kind of may tend to notice that these sentences are feeling -- they have kind of the feeling of explaining something to someone. So, we maybe don't use these so much unless we want to kind of teach someone how to do something, or we're describing the steps in a process, like these two, we're teaching someone about computer, maybe building or something like that. Or, in this one, we're talking about how to cook something, or maybe basic cooking techniques. So, you might find that these are used a little bit more when we're instructing someone. So, it's a little bit more professional maybe, or a little bit more polite. So, depending on the situation, you may also hear some different people making different choices with their grammar. But, just be aware of the differences between the two, and that sometimes we can use both the gerund form or the infinitive form. |
| Anyway, let's continue to the last one. "GPS tags are used for tracking wild animals." "GPS tags are used for tracking wild animals." Here's tracking, "for tracking." So, tracking, to track something means to regularly check the position of something. Like on your phone, right? You can do GPS tracking of your position, hopefully at any time. So, "GPS tags are used for tracking wild animals." Again, we have kind of this feeling that someone is explaining something new to us with this sentence. So, this is one very, very common use of "for." Again, this is a more grammatically focused use of "for." So, we don't need to think about it so much like a specific meaning. But, a general feel that we have when we're using it in front of a gerund is that we're talking about the use of something, and we're kind of explaining that use of something. Sometimes to someone who's learning for the first time. |
| Okay. With that in mind, let's go to our last very quick point, number eight. I wanted to include some questions, some key questions that use "for" to ask about the purpose of something. So, for example, this is a very common one. "What for?" "What for?" This question means "Why?" So, for example, if someone asks you for something really strange, like they say, "Hmm. Hey, can you buy me a drill at the store?" You might think, "Hmm, what for?" So, a drill is something that you use for construction projects, and you might think, "What? Why?" Another way to ask that question is "What for?" This is kind of like saying, "What is the purpose of that thing?" or "For what purpose do you need that thing?" So, these are different ways that we can ask that "why" question. It's also kind of like saying, "What are your plans for that object?" So, if someone asks you for something surprising, you can respond with "What for?" So, you want to know more about what they're going to do. |
| So, there are a couple of other patterns that we commonly use this with. So, generally, you might hear this "What something, something for?" type question. And, we can substitute a couple of different phrases in the middle here. But, I want to introduce too that are very, very common. The first one that follows this pattern is "What do you need that for?" "What do you need that for?" So, again, in the drill example, like "What do you need that for?" So, "What is the reason that this is necessary for you?" You're asking for the purpose of some kind of explanation. And, another one, a past tense one. "What did you do that for?" "What did you do that for?" So, in this case, it's a past tense thing. We're surprised by someone's actions. What did you do that for? Tell me the purpose of that action. What was the purpose of that action? So, you might see this, "What something, something for?" questions and these are asking for a reason or a purpose for something. So, this is another way to use "for." |
| All right, that is everything that I want to cover in this lesson. We talked about many different meanings and we also looked at some grammatical uses of the word "for." So, I hope that you got a good refresher about how to use this preposition. But, of course, if you have any questions or comments, or if you want to practice making some example sentences, please feel free to do so in the comment section of this video. Thanks very much for watching this lesson, and I will see you again soon. Bye! |
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