8 Ways to Use the Preposition "For" | Learn English Grammar for Beginners

Hi everybody, my name is Alicia. 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, 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 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 as kind of a pair, kind of matching.

So, the 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. he has lived here for 6 years. He has lived here for 6 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 1 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 6 years is incorrect. For is used to talk about the length of time. Let's look at the next example They talked for 2 hours.

They talked for 2 hours. Again, we have for before our duration, our length of time, and we're using the plural form, 2 hours. Okay? So, they talked for 2 hours.