Preposition 'to' usage / secret plans to the weapon "During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star." I read this in the opening of the m

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Preposition 'to' usage / secret plans to the weapon "During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the Death Star." I read this in the opening of the movie, Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope, 1977 film. I don't understand why the preposition 'to' is used instead of 'for' or 'of' I think it should be 'secret plans FOR/OF the Empire's ultimate weapon' Otherwise, how about 'secret plans to make the Empire's ultimate weapon (infinitive). Could you possibly explain about this? Do you think 'to' is appropriate in the sentence above?

May 8, 2016 10:41 AM

Answers · 8

I agree with Peachey. The sentence is perfectly fine as written. It's the same structure as something like 'the keys to the safe.' 'Of' is wrong. And 'for' is indeed unclear as Peachey said. To me, 'for' makes it sound more like the plans were stolen on behalf of the Death Star, not that the plans were the blueprint for how to build the Death Star.

May 8, 2016

It looks fine to me. I don't ever recall any native English speakers having an issue with it in the past. How many years has the movie been out now? ;) Look at definition 6 here: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/to If you use "for", the sentence becomes unclear. "Of" is simply wrong.

May 8, 2016

The whole sentence is a bit awkward. As an English speaker, I would use the sentence ,,,rebel spies managed to steal THE secret plans FOR the Empire's ultimate weapon... An English teacher might have more to say on this, and the way they said it might be the the correct way, but to me the sentence sounds stilted and a bit awkward. Neal

May 8, 2016

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