to
part of speech
preposition; part of a verb («to run»)
meaning for a pupil
1) To shows where something goes or who gets it: «go to school», «give it to Sam». tree →
2) To shows the end of a range: «from 5 to 9», «from Monday to Friday». tree →
3) To comes before a verb: «I want to play». tree →
4) To is used in telling the time: «ten to six» means 10 minutes before six. tree →
5) To compares numbers in a ratio or a score: «3 to 2». tree →
6) (casual) «to» joins with verbs in quick speech: «gonna» (going to), «wanna» (want to), «hafta» (have to), «gotta» (got to); texts write «2» for «to». tree →
7) (formal) Exams say «in order to», «with a view to», «pursuant to», «in respect of» and «transfer to». tree →
8) To can show what something results in: «the storm led to flooding». tree →
sense in the lessons
who receives in giving; the end of a count or a time; «ten to six» is a time; phrases: «give to», «from … to …», «next to», «up to», «add to», «to and fro»; in casual talk «gonna», «wanna», «gotta», «c u 2nite»; in rough talk «go to your room», «talk to the hand»; in the exam voice «in order to», «transferred to», «up to and including», «in the ratio 3 to 2»
examples
- Anna gives 7 shells to a friend. tree →
- Count from 5 to 9. tree →
- We walk to school every day. tree →
- I want to learn to swim. tree →
- It is ten to six, so dinner is soon. tree →
- Add 4 to 6 to get 10. tree →
- The shop is open from 9 to 5. tree →
- We won 3 to 2! tree →
- I'm gonna give 3 to my brother, wanna come? tree →
- Go to your room and don't come out till you've done the 10 sums. tree →
- Seven shells are transferred to a second party. Ascertain the quantity retained, given an initial holding of 15. tree →
- Count up to and including 20. tree →
- False confidence often leads to disaster. tree →
note
«A gives N to B»: A has N fewer, B has N more. Trap: «from 5 to 9» counts 5 numbers, not 4. Trap: «to», «too» (also, very) and «two» (2) sound the same; in texts «2» may mean «to» or «too», not the number. «up to and including 20» counts 20 too. «in order to» means just «to».
In the corpora
- Some people go to work ill because they can't afford to lose the pay, which spreads germs to everyone else.
- A job interview is a meeting where an employer asks questions to decide whom to hire; several people usually compete for one job.
- A promotion is a move up to a more senior job in the same organisation, usually with more responsibility and more pay.
- A pay rise is an increase in pay; some come each year, others have to be asked for.
- One worker alone has little power, but many together are much harder to ignore.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «to» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.