How would you finish
this sentence in English? The job interview I have next
week is very important to me or for me? If you're looking at that
sentence and thinking, I don't know, that's the problem, those two words, to and for stress me out. They give me headaches and cause anxiety
because I never know which one to use. And I don't want to make a
mistake. If that sounds like you, I want you to know that you're not alone. These two little words do cause
a lot of confusion. Today, my number one goal is to
eliminate that confusion, to eliminate the headaches that
these two little prepositions cause, and instead help you
become crystal clear on when to properly use to or for in English. But first, if you don't already know, I'm Annemarie with
Speak Confident English. This is exactly where you want to be
every week to get the confidence you want for your life and work in
English. In this lesson today, I want to highlight three common
situations where we need to decide whether to use to
or for in English as we go. I'm going to help you understand
which one to choose and why. Plus sometimes you may need to make
some changes to the structure of your sentence. And again, I'll help
you know exactly how to do that. At the end of this lesson, I'm also going to include a short quiz
to make sure that you know exactly how to use to and for
in English correctly. [Inaudible]. The first situation we're going to
look at today is when to or for can be used to talk about our reason or
our intention for doing something. They give us the explanation of
why. Let me give you two sentences. As an example, I went
to Spain for a wedding. I went to Spain to see my
best friend and both of those sentences, the, for a wedding
or to see my best friend, explain why I went to Spain. They give you the intention
or the reason for going. And both of those sentences
are absolutely correct, but there is a difference in the
grammatical structure of those sentences. Let me give you two more and I want you
to see if you can begin to identify the pattern that's being used. This
morning on the way to work, I stopped by the grocery
store for some coffee. This morning on the way to work, I stopped by the grocery
store to buy some coffee. Take a look at those two different
pairs of sentences and see if you can identify what is the difference
between using to and for in those sentences for a wedding, for some coffee, or to see my best friend
to buy some coffee? What do you notice? The sentences with the
preposition for are followed by a noun for a wedding, for some coffee. The sentences with the
preposition to are immediately followed by a verb to see and to buy all of those examples
are perfectly correct. As long as we follow that
structure. So let's give it a try. I'm going to share two more sentences
with you and this time I want you to see if you can identify which
preposition should be used in each sentence. Sentence. Number
one in a few months, I'm traveling to California.
___ a conference. In a few months, I'm traveling
to California, ____ a conference. The second example in a few months, I'm traveling to California
____ speak at a conference. So what do you think in which
sentence should I use for, and in which one should I use to, hopefully you said in a few months, I'm traveling to California
for a conference. We're following that preposition for,
with a noun. And in the second sentence, in a few months, I'm traveling to California
to speak at a conference in a moment, I'll share a few more examples
with you as a quiz. But before we do, let's take a look at our second situation
where we need to decide whether to use to or for in this second situation, the prepositions to and
for can be used to indicate who is the recipient or who is receiving something from someone. Let
me give you two examples. Yesterday. I bought a birthday card
for my sister yesterday. I bought a birthday card to
send to my sister in those two sentences. We have to my
sister and for my sister, both of them again are
highlighting who the recipient is. So how do you know which
one you should use? Let's take a look at
this sentence yesterday. I bought a birthday card to send
to my sister. In that example, I'm using the verb send, which indicates some kind of
movement or transfer a movement from point A to point B. When we use verbs that
indicate some movement exchange or transfer, we follow
those verbs with to. Let me give you some more examples. To give something to someone, to sell something to someone, to send something to someone, to mail something to someone. Let me give you a couple more
example sentences. Yesterday, I went to the post office
to send note cards to my students. Again, I'm using that verb send. So I'm indicating some movement
from me (Point A) to my students (point B). another example. Imagine you have an important
event coming up soon. Maybe it's a presentation in English and
you've decided to buy a new suit or a new shirt, maybe a new tie, but
the one you want isn't available. So while you're at the
store, the shopkeeper says, we'll order it for you and we'll
send it to you when it arrives. Once again, we're following
that rule. We have the verb, it send indicating some
movement or exchange, and it's followed by two to
send something to someone in a moment, we'll have a little test to
see how you're doing, but before we do, let's focus on one more
situation. And to do that, we're going to go back to the example
sentence I used at the very beginning. The job interview I have tomorrow
is very important to me or for me, which one of those is correct.
Truthfully, both of those are possible, but there is a slight
difference in the meaning. When we say that something is important
to me versus something is important for me, something that is important
to me indicates that it has personal value attached to it. It may not have a lot of financial value, but it might have some emotional
value or it might be attached to an important memory. For example, I have a pair of earrings that
don't have a lot of financial value, but they do have personal value. To me, they're significant to me because
they were a gift from my grandfather. One of the last gifts that he gave me
and I have a wonderful memory of when he gave me those earrings. So I might say that these earrings
are very important to me and I would be devastated. I would be so sad if I lost them. Or if someone took them away from me, there is personal or sentimental
value attached to them. What about you? Is there
something that you have, maybe it was a gift or something
that you inherited that has significant personal value
or sentimental value? If so, then you can say that it's
important to you. Now, if something is important for you, that indicates that there's some kind of
benefit, it may benefit you personally, it may benefit you financially. It may benefit you physically or
maybe even benefit your career. For example, this job
interview is important for me, that would indicate that it's
important for my career growth. It may present an opportunity
for me, similarly, developing appropriate work
life balance is important for your health. Again, the focus is on the benefit
that it brings to your health. Now that you have those three
situations of using to and for to indicate intention or the
reason for doing something using to and for to
indicate who a recipient is. And lastly, to highlight
why something is important, either due to its personal
value or the benefit that it brings to you, let's do a little quiz. I'm going to share five sentences with
you. And based on what you learned here, I want you to decide whether to use
to or for in each sentence when you're finished. If you want to
get the right answers, I recommend visiting this lesson on
the Speak Confident English website. I'll leave a link below and that's
where you'll find all the answers sentence. Number one, after a
lot of practice and preparation, she feels ready ____give
her presentation tomorrow. What do you think? Number two, after a lot of preparation and
practice she's ready ____ her presentation tomorrow. Number three, I can't forget to order flowers
_____ my friend's birthday. Number four recently, one of my students told me that
the opportunity to get practice and feedback on job interview questions
was very important ____ her confidence. And finally, number five, when you're finished with that draft,
will you send it _____ me by email? Once you're finished answering
those five questions, be sure to visit this lesson on my
Speak Confident English website, where you'll find the correct
answers. You can also ask questions, share comments or ideas for future
lessons with me there inside the lesson at the very bottom
in the comment section, that is always the best place to share
with me and with others in the Confident English community. If you found
today's lesson useful to you, I would love to know. And you can tell
me in three simple ways, number one, give this lesson a thumbs up here on
YouTube and subscribe to this channel. So you never miss one of my Confident
English lessons. Number two, share your answers to the quiz with
me in the comments below. And finally, number three, if you know someone who's also working
to develop confidence in their English skills, share this lesson directly
with them on Facebook or by email, have a wonderful week. Thank
you so much for joining me. And I look forward to seeing you next
time for your Confident English lesson.
