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Vango
Lv 5
Vango asked in Education & ReferenceWords & Wordplay · 1 decade ago

Prepositions: do I use "for" or "to"?

!. Oily food is bad for you.

OR

2. Oily food is bad to you.

Does anybody have a reference to the rules (if any) around this kind of use of to/for?

Update:

I'm also convinced it's "for" but a handbook at my English cram school here in Taiwan says "Oily food is bad to you", so I need something solid (a rule or website reference) to convince my Taiwanese principle the guy (an Australian) who wrote the book is wrong.

Update 2:

...And yet we say: "The parents are good TO the children." BUT "Apples are good FOR the children"...

Update 3:

Thanks for that one, Sam...Hm, I'll have to take some time to translate that into simple English for us lesser mortals and then to elementary English, so the Taiwanese can understand.

6 Answers

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  • goli ix
    1 decade ago
    Favourite answer

    in this instance..

    FOR: with the object or purpose of (to run for exercise).

    TO: used for indicating the indirect object of a verb, for connecting a verb with its complement, or for indicating or limiting the application of an adjective, noun, or pronoun (Give it to me. I refer to your work.)

    Source(s): dictionary.com
  • Arggg
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    Try buying a copy of Strunk and White's "Elements of Style" - that's a good reference.

    Oily food is bad for you.

    If oily food were bad to you, it would mean that the food is being mean and insulting to you.

  • gldjns
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    You would use "for". I don't know of the specific rule, if any. But it's simply the proper word. Whenever anything is bad for you, you don't usually say, bad to you.

  • Hasona
    1 decade ago

    the correct sentence is "Oily food is bad for you"

  • louel53
    1 decade ago

    Things that you eat or do are bad for you

    eg. Smoking is bad for you.

    Trans-fats are bad for you.

    People are bad to you

    Arnold is bad to me. He says nasty things about my appearance and slaps me.

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    For.

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