0:00 Hi everybody, my name is Alicia.
0:02 In this video, I'm going to talk about eight ways to use the preposition
0:06 for.
0:07 Let's get started.
0:08 Okay, the first use is purpose.
0:11 So, we use for to express the purpose or the use of something.
0:16 We can use this to talk about places, the purpose of a place,
0:20 the purpose of an object, and so on.
0:23 So, let's look at some examples.
0:25 First, this textbook is for my science class.
0:29 So, here for is before my science class.
0:34 In this sentence, this textbook, our subject, matches with my science class.
0:40 So, we show that the use or the purpose of the textbook,
0:45 the thing that the textbook is used for,
0:47 the thing that the textbook is used to do, is my science class.
0:52 In this case, we're not talking about an action,
0:54 we're talking about an object and the thing the object is used for,
0:59 the thing that the object is used to do.
1:02 So, in this case, to study for my science class.
1:05 Okay, let's look at another example.
1:08 The conference room is for meetings.
1:11 So, here we have for before meetings.
1:14 This shows the purpose of the conference room is meetings.
1:18 This is another way to understand this sentence.
1:21 Again, we have our subject here, the conference room, and the part following for,
1:26 which shows the use of the subject.
1:30 So, we can kind of think of these two parts of these sentences
1:33 as kind of a pair,
1:34 kind of matching.
1:35 So, the thing and the thing that it is used to do.
1:38 Okay, one more.
1:40 Here's an idea for a new product.
1:42 Here's an idea for a new product.
1:45 So, this sentence is expressing a new product
1:49 as like the purpose of the idea.
1:52 So, we can think of this in like brainstorming sessions as well.
1:56 So, when you think of in this case a new idea
2:00 or a new concept,
2:01 you are sharing your concept
2:03 and the purpose of
2:05 that concept at the same time.
2:07 So, here's an idea for a new product.
2:10 So, this is expressing the purpose of the idea
2:13 or the use of the idea in this case.
2:16 So, these are some different ways
2:18 that we express the purpose
2:19 or the use of something with for.
2:22 Okay, let's continue to the second use of for for this lesson.
2:27 The second use is duration.
2:29 So, duration means length of time.
2:32 Let's look at the examples here.
2:35 First, he has lived here for 6 years.
2:38 He has lived here for 6 years.
2:40 So, please note, when you use this for,
2:44 you need to use the plural form of the in this case years
2:49 that follows.
2:50 So, when we use our time measurement like year or hour, minute, second,
2:54 and so on, we need to use the plural form here
2:59 as long as it's not one.
3:01 >> >> Of course, if it's 1 year, we need to use just the singular form.
3:05 But, generally, we need to use the plural form in sentences like these
3:09 that express a duration of time,
3:12 a length of time.
3:13 So, we cannot use to here.
3:15 He has lived here to 6 years is incorrect.
3:18 For is used to talk about the length of time.
3:21 Let's look at the next example sentence.
3:24 They talked for 2 hours.
3:26 They talked for 2 hours.
3:28 Again, we have for before our duration, our length of time,
3:33 and we're using the plural form, 2 hours.
3:37 Okay?
3:38 So, they talked for 2 hours.
3:39 This means their discussion was a 2-hour time period.
3:43 That was the duration of their talk.
3:46 Okay, one more example of this.
3:48 We waited for about 15 minutes.
3:51 We waited for about 15 minutes.
3:53 Here we have four before about 15 minutes.
3:57 So, if you want to make a guess
3:59 or express something close to this time,
4:03 you can use about in this position.
4:05 Don't put about before this.
4:07 We waited about for 15 minutes.
4:09 No, don't do that.
4:10 Put it before the duration of time.
4:13 We waited for about 15 minutes is perfect.
4:16 So, we can use for to talk about duration as well.
4:20 It's usually very clear
4:21 when we are using for to describe duration
4:24 because there's this kind of length of time expression after the preposition.
4:29 Okay, great.
4:30 So, let's continue to the next use of for.
4:32 The next use of for, number three, describes a status or a condition.
4:38 We use this for a lot
4:40 when we want to like express an emotion
4:43 that we feel but for someone else.
4:46 So, sometimes we feel, you know,
4:48 happy or sad or excited about someone else's news
4:52 and we use for to express
4:55 that.
4:55 So, let's break down these example sentences.
4:58 First one, very, very common expression.
5:01 I'm so happy for you.
5:03 I'm so happy for you.
5:05 So, this sentence means I feel very,
5:08 very happy because of something that happened in your life.
5:12 So, we do not use to to express this.
5:15 Sometimes I see learners say something like, I'm so happy to you,
5:19 but we do not express it in this way.
5:21 We say, I'm so happy for you.
5:24 You got a new job, I'm so happy for you.
5:27 So, expressing with for you shows
5:30 that you care about the other person's condition
5:33 or status.
5:34 You have this emotion and you want to express it for that other person.
5:39 Use for to do that.
5:41 Let's look at another example of this.
5:44 This is great news for the company.
5:47 This is great news for the company.
5:49 So again, we have kind of this status or this condition.
5:52 Something happened.
5:53 This is great news for the company.
5:56 So in this case,
5:57 we want to express this condition is true for this organization in this case.
6:04 So maybe the CEO says this.
6:06 Like this is great news for the company.
6:08 So this means that this condition
6:11 or this status is something
6:12 that we want to make clear is for this.
6:16 Like kind of the destination of this feeling or this condition is the company.
6:20 So it's not me, but it's the company.
6:23 I feel this way.
6:24 I feel this way, but it's about the company.
6:27 So we use for to do this.
6:28 Again, not to.
6:29 This is great news for the company.
6:31 Okay?
6:32 One more example of this.
6:34 The lecture was hard for the students to understand.
6:39 The lecture was hard for the students to understand.
6:42 So in this situation, here is kind of the status or the condition.
6:46 Maybe the opinion in this case.
6:48 The lecture was hard.
6:50 And here we have for the students.
6:53 So that means in this case,
6:54 maybe the lecture was not hard for the professor.
6:57 Or the lecture was not hard for the teacher.
6:59 But we want to again show this condition should be applied to this group.
7:06 In this case, the students.
7:07 The lecture was hard for the students to understand.
7:11 Maybe the lecture was easy for another professor to understand.
7:14 But we want to focus on this group here.
7:17 We use for to do that.
7:19 The lecture was hard for the students to understand.
7:22 So again, this use number three to express a status
7:25 or condition is something
7:27 that we do when we want to express like an opinion
7:30 or a condition or an emotion
7:33 and we want to be specific about the person
7:36 or the organization or the group of people
7:39 that we want to apply
7:40 that emotion to or
7:41 that condition to.
7:42 Okay?
7:43 So, with that in mind, let's continue on to number four.
7:46 We're going to change the feel a lot with number four.
7:49 Number four is old-fashioned because.
7:53 So, yes, this is an old-fashioned use,
7:56 and we don't use this so much in everyday communication.
7:59 However, you may see this,
8:01 and you may hear this in media and in stories.
8:05 It is still used, especially in older stories that are still very,
8:09 very famous stories.
8:11 So, let's take a look at some examples and see how this is used.
8:15 So, first one is a sad one, but he remembers that day,
8:19 for it was a sad day.
8:21 He remembers that day, for it was a sad day.
8:25 In this sentence, we can replace for with because,
8:29 and the sentence stays the same.
8:31 He remembers that day because it was a sad day.
8:34 Okay?
8:35 So, here for 100% replaces because,
8:39 but the difference is that this sentence sounds much more old-fashioned.
8:44 We would not say this sentence in everyday communication now unless we want to
8:49 express a kind of old-fashioned,
8:51 or maybe very dramatic feel.
8:53 So, this is 100% the same meaning, but just sounds older.
8:57 Let's look at another example.
9:00 They walked home quickly, for the night was cold and dark.
9:04 So, here we have they walked home quickly,
9:06 for the night was cold and dark.
9:08 Again, we can just replace for with because, and the sentence is the same.
9:13 They walked home quickly because the night was cold and dark.
9:16 This is a much more natural sentence in today's modern English,
9:20 but using for here makes it sound older, much older.
9:25 Okay, last example.
9:27 She went into the town, for she had many errands to attend to.
9:31 She went into the town, for she had many errands to attend to.
9:34 Again, exactly the same as because.
9:37 She went into the town because she had many errands to attend to.
9:41 So, I wanted to include this
9:42 because even though we don't use it
9:44 so much in everyday communication now,
9:47 we do still see this from time to time and you might think for?
9:51 Is this about purpose here?
9:53 And this expresses the same meaning as because.
9:56 So, if you like watching old movies, you might hear this expression quite often.
10:01 So, keep an ear out for it.
10:03 And of course, if you like to read old books,
10:05 you will probably see this a lot.
10:06 So, that's what it means.
10:07 Okay.
10:08 Let's continue to number five.
10:10 Number five, I think is a pretty easy one to understand.
10:13 We use for to express the recipient of something,
10:17 the person who gets something or the person who receives something.
10:21 So, let's look at the examples here.
10:24 The boy drew a picture for his mother.
10:27 The boy drew a picture for his mother.
10:28 So, here for comes before his mother.
10:31 She is the person who received the picture.
10:35 So, it's like saying the reason someone did something is for giving it to
10:40 this person or in order to give it to this person.
10:43 We describe the recipient with for or we preface the recipient with for.
10:48 Next example.
10:49 I bought this coffee for you.
10:51 I bought this coffee for you.
10:53 So, again, we have for before the person receiving.
10:57 So, in this case, the coffee.
10:59 Oh, bought this coffee.
11:00 Okay, great.
11:01 For you.
11:02 So, we can do this to express who is receiving something.
11:06 One more.
11:07 Flowers for me?
11:09 How nice.
11:11 So, we can also do this to talk about ourselves when we receive something.
11:15 In this case, the person received some flowers.
11:18 Flowers for me?
11:20 So, that's this part right here is expressing >> >> Oh my gosh,
11:24 I'm the recipient of the flowers.
11:26 We're expressing some surprise here with this.
11:28 For me?
11:29 Oh my gosh, how nice.
11:31 So, we do use this for to express the recipients of things.
11:35 This is just one way to express this giving and receiving type of pattern.
11:40 Of course, there are many ways to express
11:42 that someone gave something
11:44 or received something.
11:45 This is just one pattern you can use to talk about this giving receiving
11:49 relationship.
11:50 Okay, great.
11:51 Let's continue on to number six.
11:53 Number six is also, I think,
11:55 a pretty easy one to understand quickly because it uses numbers.
12:00 We use for to express prices and rates and sales and discounts,
12:05 these kinds of things.
12:07 So, let's look at some examples.
12:08 First one, I got this shirt for $20.
12:12 I got this shirt for $20.
12:14 For is before the price of the item.
12:18 In this case, I got this shirt for $20.
12:21 Another way to say this is I bought this shirt
12:24 and the price was $20.
12:27 But, for $20 is a very quick and short way to say it.
12:30 Yeah?
12:31 Okay.
12:32 Let's look at the next example.
12:34 This is an example of a discount expression.
12:37 The electronic store is having a two-for-one sale.
12:42 The electronic store is having a two-for-one sale.
12:45 Here is the four I want to focus on.
12:48 This is an expression
12:49 that you might see in any kind of store you can imagine,
12:53 actually.
12:53 A two-for-one sale, maybe three-for-one, I don't know.
12:57 But, this means you can get two objects,
13:00 in this case markers in this example, two for the price of one.
13:06 So, this means if a marker costs $1,
13:10 you can get two markers for $1.
13:13 So, you can buy two items for the price of one item.
13:17 We express this very quickly with two-for-one
13:20 or three-for-one and so on.
13:22 So, this expresses the price of an item
13:25 or the discount rate in this case.
13:27 Okay, let's look at one more example.
13:30 The hotel gave us bags for free.
13:33 The hotel gave us bags for free.
13:36 So, when something costs zero dollars, when something costs nothing,
13:41 we express that with free.
13:43 Right?
13:43 Something is free.
13:45 When you want to talk about something you received for no money,
13:49 you use for to do that.
13:51 We got this free.
13:52 She got that for free.
13:54 So, use for to describe those things that cost nothing as well.
13:58 So, you can use for in this way to talk about prices, rates, sales,
14:03 and so on.
14:04 Okay, great.
14:05 Let's move on to the last two points for this lesson.
14:08 The last two points I want to talk about are kind of more grammatically
14:12 focused.
14:13 So, it's not so much about the meaning,
14:16 but rather the grammatical purpose of the preposition.
14:20 So, we use the preposition for with gerund.
14:24 So, if you don't know what a gerund is,
14:26 that's when you take a verb,
14:27 you take the verb and you use it in the ing form,
14:30 but you use it as a noun.
14:32 When we do this, we use for before that word.
14:36 So, what does that mean?
14:37 What does that look like?
14:37 Let's look at some examples.
14:39 Here's one.
14:40 This part of the computer is for storing data.
14:44 This part of the computer is for storing data.
14:47 Here we have for plus storing.
14:50 Storing.
14:50 So, to store means to keep something like in a computer data in a
14:54 computer.
14:55 So, we use this for ing pattern.
14:59 You might also know the infinitive pattern.
15:01 Something something something to verb.
15:04 That's a very common thing that we maybe run into questions about.
15:07 Should I use the infinitive form?
15:09 Should I use the gerund form?
15:11 And one error I sometimes see is learners try to mix the two.
15:15 They say like, "For store data."
15:18 Or, "To storing data."
15:19 Something like that.
15:20 So, the rule is please use for with gerund.
15:24 So, don't try to mix like for store or to storing something like that.
15:30 Make sure when you're using the gerund form here, you precede it with for.
15:35 Let's look at another example.
15:38 A sharp knife is important for cutting vegetables.
15:41 A sharp knife is important for cutting vegetables.
15:44 So, here is my gerund for cutting vegetables and we have for before this,
15:50 okay?
15:51 So, a sharp knife is important for cutting vegetables.
15:54 So, another point that I want to make is
15:56 that we can sometimes use either the gerund form
16:00 or the infinitive form
16:02 and depending on the verb,
16:03 we can choose between the two.
16:05 Sometimes both are totally fine to use.
16:07 Sometimes you need to use one or the other.
16:11 And in those cases, in the cases where you can choose either one,
16:15 it's up to you.
16:16 But, you kind of may tend to notice
16:18 that these sentences are feeling they have kind of the feeling of explaining something
16:23 to someone.
16:24 So, we maybe don't use these
16:26 so much unless we want to kind of teach someone how to do something
16:29 or we're describing the steps in a process like these two.
16:32 We're teaching someone about computer maybe building or something like that.
16:38 Or in this one,
16:38 we're talking about how to cook something or maybe basic cooking techniques.
16:42 So, you might find
16:43 that these are used a little bit more
16:45 when we're instructing someone.
16:47 So, it's a little bit more professional maybe or a little bit more polite.
16:51 So, depending on the situation,
16:53 you may also hear some different people making different choices with their grammar.
16:57 But, just be aware of the differences between the two
17:01 and that sometimes we can use both the gerund form
17:04 or the infinitive form.
17:06 Anyway, let's continue to the last one.
17:08 GPS tags are used for tracking wild animals.
17:11 GPS tags are used for tracking wild animals.
17:15 Here's tracking for tracking.
17:17 So, tracking to track something means to regularly check the position of something.
17:22 Like on your phone, right?
17:24 You can do GPS tracking of your position.
17:26 Hopefully at any time.
17:28 So, GPS tags are used for tracking wild animals.
17:32 Again, we have kind of this feeling
17:34 that someone is explaining something new to us with this sentence.
17:38 So, this is one very very common use of four.
17:42 Again, this is a more grammatically focused use of four.
17:47 So, we don't need to think about it so much like a specific meaning,
17:52 but a general feel
17:53 that we have when we're using it in front of a gerund is
17:56 that we're talking about the use of something
18:00 and we're kind of explaining
18:01 that use of something.
18:03 Sometimes to someone who's learning for the first time.
18:06 Okay.
18:06 So, with that in mind, let's go to our last very quick point,
18:09 number eight.
18:10 I wanted to include some questions,
18:13 some key questions that you for to ask about the purpose of something.
18:19 So, for example, this is a very common one.
18:22 What for?
18:23 What for?
18:24 This question means why?
18:27 So, for example, if someone asks you for something really strange, like they say,
18:31 "Hmm, hey, can you buy me a drill at the store?"
18:35 You might think, "Hmm, what for?"
18:37 So, a drill is uh something
18:39 that you use for construction projects
18:40 and you might think,
18:41 "What?
18:42 Why?"
18:43 Another way to ask that question is what for?
18:46 This is kind of like saying, "What is the purpose of that thing?"
18:50 Or, "For what purpose do you need that thing?"
18:53 So, these are different ways that we can ask that why question.
18:57 It's also kind of like saying, "What are your plans for that object?"
19:01 So, if someone asks you for something surprising, you can respond with, "What for?"
19:06 So, you want to know more about what they're going to do.
19:09 So, there are a couple of other patterns that we commonly use this with.
19:13 So, generally, you might hear this what something something for type question,
19:19 and we can substitute a couple of different phrases in the middle here.
19:23 But, I want to introduce two that are very, very common.
19:26 The first one follows this pattern is what do you need that for?
19:31 What do you need that for?
19:32 So, again, in the drill example, it's like, "What do you need that for?"
19:37 So, what is the reason that this is necessary for you?
19:40 You're asking for the purpose, some kind of explanation.
19:44 And another one, a past tense one, "What did you do that for?"
19:49 "What did you do that for?"
19:50 So, in this case, it's a past tense thing.
19:52 We're surprised by someone's actions.
19:55 "What did you do that for?"
19:57 Tell me the purpose of that action.
20:00 What was the purpose of that action?
20:02 So, you might see these what something something for questions,
20:06 and these are asking for a reason or a purpose for something.
20:10 So, this is another way to use for.
20:12 All right, that is everything that I want to cover in this lesson.
20:16 We talked about many different meanings,
20:18 and we also looked at some grammatical uses of the word for.
20:22 So, I hope that you got a good refresher about how to use this
20:25 preposition.
20:26 But, of course, if you have any questions or comments,
20:29 or if you want to practice making some example sentences,
20:32 please feel free to do so in the comment section of this video.
20:35 Also, don't forget to like this lesson
20:37 and subscribe to the channel
20:38 if you haven't already.
20:40 Also, check us out at englishclass101.com for some other things
20:43 that can help you with your English studies.
20:45 Thanks very much for watching this lesson, and I will see you again soon.
20:48 Bye.
