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Of/for distinction | ||
Tags: Meaning of words | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| Honest Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5323 days ago 89 posts - 92 votes  Speaks: Arabic (Gulf)*, English | Message 1 of 9 06 April 2014 at 6:34am | IP Logged |
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May I ask: In writing a question like the following one, what is the correct usage, of or for?
Define the following terms. Provide an example (of-for) each. Your help is appreciated! 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6384 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 9 06 April 2014 at 7:11am | IP Logged |
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of each
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| Gemuse Senior Member Germany Joined 4087 days ago 818 posts - 1189 votes Speaks: English Studies: German | Message 3 of 9 06 April 2014 at 10:56am | IP Logged |
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But with "give" it would be
Give an example for each.... correct? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Glarus Girl Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4580 days ago 50 posts - 108 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Swiss-German | Message 4 of 9 06 April 2014 at 1:12pm | IP Logged |
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You would use 'of' in a general sense and 'for' when it's more specific.
Provide an example of each. Provide an example for each word. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5021 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 5 of 9 06 April 2014 at 7:26pm | IP Logged |
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The best example I can think of is the oft quoted line:
"Government of the people, for the people..." (Maybe I got the order wrong?) Anyway, here, "government of the people" means those in government are "people" and not royalty, for example. Another example: Government of thieves. (A government run by thieves.) Moving on to "for". "Government for the people" means the government's raison d'etre (the reson it exists) is people. Reusing the earlier example: "government for thieves". This would mean that the government in question governs thieves. Consider the following exchange: Husband: Wow! A new pen. Wife: I bought it for you. So, "of" refers to the word that comes before it in a sentence. "For" focusses more on the word that follows it. Another example. King of fools. Someone who is very stupid, or, has acted in a very stupid manner. King for fools. Whoever considers him a king is a fool. Sometimes, as in your(OP) sentence, the two words can mean the same thing. PS. I'm terribly sorry about the length of my post. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 DavidStyles Octoglot Pro Member United Kingdom Joined 3946 days ago 82 posts - 179 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, Spanish, Latin, French, Portuguese, Norwegian Studies: Mandarin, Russian, Swedish, Danish, Serbian, Arabic (Egyptian) Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 9 06 April 2014 at 7:37pm | IP Logged |
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Following the trend of everyone giving you a different answer, I'll expand as follows, since the previous answers have been technically correct but also incomplete and misleading (sorry, folks, but they have - one can say "an example for", one can say "give an example of", and one can say "provide an example of each word", albeit that latter option wouldn't be very helpful of course as it'd change the meaning - perfectly correct English usage though).
Edit to mention: I wrote my post at the same time as Napoleon was writing his. His information is also correct, albeit somewhat off-topic, as he discussed their usage in general, as opposed to in this specific context. As for the interpretations of sentences, they are also correct, but not the only correct interpretations, as English is ambiguous in many of these phrases. A government for thieves might not govern thieves, but rather govern law-abiding citizens such that they are more easy prey for thieves, and the government of a state may also be the government that rules that state, even if it's not from the state in question (as in a protectorate / colony / etc). The ambiguities associated with "of" are certainly not confined to English, of course, though many languages are clearer. Ok, so here goes: Either way is correct, but has a slightly different meaning, which is mostly irrelevant to what you want to communicate. "Please provide an example of each" - wants an example of each. "Please provide an example for each" - wants an example for [the purpose of clarifying] each. In most circumstances, your response will be the same regardless. Only in a very few circumstances will there be a small difference, in that the latter case is expressing the hope that the example that you give will have pedagogic value, whereas the former case merely quietly assumes that hope without actually expressing it. Edited by DavidStyles on 06 April 2014 at 7:46pm 8 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Paco Senior Member Hong Kong Joined 4282 days ago 145 posts - 251 votes Speaks: Cantonese* | Message 7 of 9 10 April 2014 at 7:19pm | IP Logged |
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Is what DavidStyles said descriptive or prescriptive?
Does it mean the sender would unconsciously opt for "for" when s/he does not know something and so eagerly wants an explanation in the form of examples? Is "for" wrong when a teacher wants some examples from a student as a test? Would the choice between "of" and "for" lead to different perceptions, hence different responses, of the receiver? Thank you. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| schoenewaelder Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5565 days ago 759 posts - 1197 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch | Message 8 of 9 11 April 2014 at 2:31am | IP Logged |
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This really is a tricky question, and the difference really is not very important, but
in general you would ask for an example *of* something. You can think of "of" and "for" as corresponding to the directions "away from" and "towards" If something is a simple concrete fact, then you can ask for examples that represent it, reflect it, stem from it, i.e. examples *of* it. (You have a *fact* and arrows leading away from it, with examples of usage) If something is less certain, a proposition, supposition, assumption, conjecture, query, then you can ask for examples that support or confirm it, i.e. examples *for* it. (The examples are the facts or observations, with arrows going towards your proposition.) With regard to the original question, if it had been referring to a single item/definition, it would probably have said "....and give an example *of* it". In this case, "for" would be a little odd, but still not completely bizarre. The reason "for" is however equally possible here, is because the question is referring to multiple "terms", i.e there are actually several questions being asked, and an answer/example is required *for* (on behalf of) each of them. Apologies, as that is probably not much help, but I really wouldn't worry to much about it Edited by schoenewaelder on 11 April 2014 at 2:48am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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