Mick
Prepositions – are both possible? I would appreciate if someone helped me understand why the preposition 'for' must/can be used with adjectives amusing and enjoyable while the preposition 'to' can’t. According to the 'Corpus of Contemporary American English' (http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/) both the words, enjoyable and amusing, collocate with each of the prepositions 'for' and 'to' (enjoyable/amusing to/for me). Can I rely on this source of information? Unfortunately, I was not able to find any information containing the British equivalents (collocations) for either of these two words. Is there a good dictionary of British collocations available online? I consulted the ‘Oxford Collocations Dictionary’ but couldn’t find the above mentioned combinations of words. Thanks.
Jun 18, 2012 1:14 PM
Answers · 4
The adjectives "enjoyable" and "amusing" are not specifically mentioned in the Oxford Dictionary but such adjectives obviously collocate with the preposition "to". TO: 33. Expressing the relation of an adj. (or derived adv. or n.) to a n. denoting a person or thing to which its application is directed or limited. In the construction of such adjs. as accessible, adverse, agreeable, beneficial, common, complaisant, constant, difficult, due, easy, equal, essential, faithful, false, familiar, favourable, friendly, good, grateful, hostile, hurtful, impossible, incredible, injurious, kind, liable, manifest, natural, near, necessary, obedient, possible, proper, requisite, salutary, similar, subject, suitable, true, useful, visible, welcome, etc., q.v., with their opposites; also, in a special sense, alive, dead, deaf, blind, insensible; also many adj. phrases, as with child, in calf, of use, of value (see the nouns.) ------------------- The preposition "for" is more problematical. It seems that "to" is the normal collocation for "amusing" and "enjoyable" according to the Oxford. However, by definition, there is nothing preventing the “enjoyable for” or “amusing for”. I have definitely used and heard the collocations “enjoyable for/to” and “amusing for/to” in America. The meaning is close to “in my opinion” or “ for my purposes”. Perhaps a native of Great Britain could clarify the contemporary usage there. OXFORD FOR : 26. As regards, with regard or respect to, concerning. Also in idiomatic expressions: †for the general, in general; †for so far, in so far; †for my mind, to my thinking; for my, his, etc. part (see part); for the rest Also, from the Macmillan Dictionary: 8 relating to someone/something relating to or concerning someone or something Living conditions for most of the citizens are very bad. 16 in someone’s opinion used for saying who has a particular feeling or opinion about something For me personally, it was a complete disaster. The biggest concern for most Americans was the quality of public education.
June 18, 2012
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