For or To

English prepositions are pretty difficult sometimes. English prepositions don't have  a lot of logic to them and they don't have always sense. For all these reasons, English prepositions must be learned and practiced in context with other words.

Sometime we are use wrong preposition and it's completely change the meaning of sentence. Today, we are going to learn "to" or "for".

To

When should you use preposition "to" ?

• Direction / destination 
• Something move to one place to another place. We can use to when there's some kind of transfer happening or something is being moved from one place to a destination.
• Example: 
• Do you usually take the bus to work?(here work is destination)
• If you're feeling sick you should talk to a doctor.(here doctor is destination)
• Can you quickly run to the shops.(here shops is destination)
• If you are talking about a distance you should also use to.
• it's only 6 km from my house to the office.
• Time/time between two points.
• It's a quarter to seven.
• It's five minutes to eight.
• The supermarket is open from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm.
• I study English Monday to Friday every week.

For

When you can use preposition "for" ?

• Benefits
• "for" use for positive effects or results of something.
• Example:
• Ginger is great for your immune system.
• Exercising everyday is good for your health.
• Duration / period of time
• "for" use for to talk about time. we do something for time duration.
• Example: 
• They've been living in the city for three years already.
• How long have you been studying medicine for?
• I've been waiting for twenty minutes already, where are you?
• Helping someone
• If you are doing something to help someone or do something nice.
• Example:
• I baked a cake for my sister.
• I need to collect the mail for my grandma.
• hey! can you grab those boxes for me.
• Function or use
• We can use for when we are taking about function or use.(for + verb+ing)
• Example: 
• What is it used for ?
• A)  It is used for drinking.
• It is used for talking.
• It's used for driving.
• That camera is used for taking picture underwater.

Now another very common use for these prepositions where both of them can be used.

You can use both to talk about a reason or a motive.

Use "To" when the motive or reason is verb.

Use "For" when the motive or reason is Noun.

• Q) Why is he studying java?
• A) He's studying java to apply for a job.(apply is verb)
• A) He's studying java for work.(work is noun)

You can use "To" and "For" both. Both are correct grammatically but it's change the meaning of sentence. So, this is where you have to be a little careful.

• Example: 
• I made a quick phone call to my mom.(here mom is destination)
• I made a quick phone call for my mom.(here i wanna help my mom)
• Common collocations
• Apologize + for (something) the action
• Apologize + to (someone ) the person receiving the apology.
• Travel + to (somewhere)
• Travel + for(purpose/time)
• Example: 
• He's calling to apologize for missing the meeting yesterday.
• He should apologize to his boss for missing the meeting.
• Have you ever traveled to Europe?
• I'm travelling for work.