Word for when something is right

Video Transcript
Section 1
Well hey there! I’m Emma from mmmEnglish! Welcome to my channel! Notice that I said, “Welcome to my channel“? Not “Welcome for my channel”

You’re probably here for learning English, right? To learn English, right? Man, those little words ‘to’ and ‘for’, they’re so tiny but when they’re used as prepositions in English sentences, grammar can get quite confusing! Can’t it? I’m sure that you’ve been confused by these words at some point. So in this lesson, I’ll go over them in a little detail so that you can feel more confident using them while you write, while you speak in English.

Prepositions, in general, are pretty easy to confuse. For some of you, part of the problem is that with these prepositions, you’re thinking about the way that you use them in your own language not how they’re used in English and it can be different. For example, Spanish and Portuguese speakers often use the preposition ‘en’ where in English we use both ‘on’ and ‘in’. Two separate words with very different uses in English. So part of the challenge when you’re learning is understanding how to use them separately in English and what the difference is, when to use one or the other.

Some languages don’t really rely on prepositions much at all. I mean sometimes English prepositions don’t have a lot of logic to them. They don’t always make sense. And for all of these reasons, English prepositions must be learned and practised in context with other words. So we won’t focus too much on each individual preposition in this lesson. We’ll look at words that they’re often used with.

And just before we get started, you might be interested in some of the other lessons that I’ve made about prepositions. My playlist’s up there. I’ve made lessons about in, on, at, by. Lots of other prepositions.

But back to these two prepositions we’re talking about today. Sometimes, using the wrong preposition doesn’t affect the meaning of your sentence too much. Native speakers will recognise the mistake, but they probably won’t correct you on it because they’ll still understand you. But with these two prepositions, they can often be used in place of each other and sometimes, the meaning completely changes.

So here’s what I’m going to do in this lesson. I’m going to talk about the uses of ‘to’. I’m going to talk about the uses of ‘for’. And then I’m going to talk about the times when you could use either ‘to’ or ‘for’. And that’s where things get a little confusing! Make sure you stick around until the end of the lesson because later on, I’m going to teach you some common word collocations using ‘to’ and ‘for’ so you can stop guessing which one you need to use and just know which is the right one.

And before we get started, make sure you subscribe to the channel just by clicking that red button down there so that you can keep up-to-date with what’s happening. Okay, let’s start!

When should you use the preposition ‘to’? So, you can use ‘to’ when there is some kind of movement from one place to another. Now keep in mind, this doesn’t only relate to physical movement and action. It could also relate to other types of movement. We can use ‘to’ when there’s some kind of transfer happening or something is being moved from one place to another – a destination. Something is being moved to somewhere or something. Right?

Do you usually take the bus to work?

So there’s movement, of course, in the direction to work. The destination is work. Now I’m going to give you a few other examples and I want you to pay attention to the destination or the direction being described in each one.

If you’re feeling sick, you should talk to a doctor.
Can you quickly run to the shops?
They invited us to their house for dinner.

Now if you’re talking about distance, you should also use ‘to’, since distance is the length or the time from one place to another – to a destination.

It’s only 6 kilometres from my house to the office.

Now we also use ‘to’ when we’re talking about time and the amount of time between two points in time. Of course, we use it when telling the time, right?

It’s a quarter to seven.
It’s five minutes to eight.

When we’re talking about one point in time to another point in time, we can also use ‘to’

The supermarket is open from 9am to 7pm.
I study English Monday to Thursday every week. 

From this time to that time. So this is a period from this time to that time. That’s the direction, that’s the movement.

Now if there are two things and you’d like one of those things a little more than the other, you prefer it, right? You prefer one thing to the other.

I prefer chocolate ice cream to vanilla ice cream.

I like chocolate ice cream more than vanilla. It’s way better obviously! And I would rather have chocolate ice cream.

He prefers riding his bike to walking.
Do you prefer tea to coffee?

Not me! I love coffee!

Okay, what about you now? I want you to tell me about some of your preferences in the comments below. So make sure you’re comparing two things and that you’re using the preposition ‘to’.

I prefer summer to winter, for example. Add it to the comments. Now, we can also use ‘to’ to talk about the point where something finishes or ends. It’s the limit that you can’t go past.

During the flood, the water came up to my knees during the high season.

Okay I want to check you’ve been paying attention. Okay? Time for a quick quiz. What are the four different situations where we commonly see the preposition ‘to’ being used? The four situations that I just talked about. Write them in the comments. Quickly! You’ve got ten seconds!

1. Direction or destination
2. Time, the time between two points
3. Preference
4. And the limit or the endpoint of something.

Right? Nice! Let’s check out what ‘for’ is used for now. So we can talk about benefits using ‘for’. The positive effects or results of something. So we can use ‘for’. For example, one of the benefits of eating ginger is that it helps your immune system. So..

Ginger is great for your immune system!
Exercising every day is good for your health!

Right? That’s a benefit. We also use ‘for’ to talk about time. We use it when we’re doing something over a period of time. So when something has happened for a number of hours, days, weeks, months, years.. you get the idea, right? We do something for a duration, a period of time.

They’ve been living in the city for three years already.
How long have you been studying medicine for?
I’ve been waiting for twenty minutes already. Where are you?!

Wait a second. Notice how all of those examples are using the perfect tense? ‘For’ is often used when talking about time in this way. You can actually check the lesson that I made about the present perfect tense and using ‘for’ and ‘since’ right here. I’ll link to it at the end of this lesson as well so you can keep watching this one now.

If you do something to help someone out or do something nice, then you are doing something for them.

I baked a cake for my sister.
I need to collect the mail for my grandma.
Hey, can you grab those boxes for me?

You’ll see from these examples that this is an important one to know so that you can ask someone for a favour.

“Can you please do something for me?“

This is a helpful phrase, right? A helpful one to know. It’s a really common expression. Can you help me? Can you do something for me?

What’s this thing’s purpose? What’s its function? What’s it used for? Well it’s used for drinking and filling up with water. Remember that we use ‘for’ when we’re talking about a function or a use. We use the form ‘for’ plus verb -ing

What is it used for?

It’s used for drinking. It’s used for taking. It’s used for driving.

So notice how the verb -ing form is always following ‘for’. Okay things are about to get a little trickier during this lesson but before we do, I want to check that you’ve been paying attention again. We’re going to recap on the different uses of ‘for’. Can you remember them all? Write them down in the comments quickly. You’ve got ten seconds!

We talked about:

1. The benefits
2. The duration or a period of time
3. We talked about helping someone
4. And we talked about the function and the use of something, right?

So all of those situations were ones where you can use ‘to’ or ‘for. It’s not a complete list. There are some other uses as well but they are definitely the most common ones.

Now another very common use for these prepositions is one where both of them can be used, which is where things get a little trickier. You can use both ‘to’ and ‘for’ to talk about a reason or a motive. So that is to talk about why someone is doing something, for what reason are they doing it? But in this case, they are not interchangeable. You can’t use either one in the same way but luckily, luckily there are some simple rules to remember that will help you to use them correctly.

Use ‘to’ when the motive or the reason is a verb and use ‘for’ when the motive or a reason is a noun. Make sure you write that down, that’s a super tip! Let’s check it out.

Why is he studying English? He’s studying English to apply for a job.

‘apply’ is a verb so we use ‘to’.

He’s studying English for work. 

Now ‘work’ here is a noun so we use ‘for’. So you’ve seen lots of common situations where we can use ‘to’ and ‘for’ but now let’s look at a few examples where you can use ‘to’ or ‘for’. Both of them can be used correctly but the meaning of each sentence changes so this is where you have to be a little careful, okay?

My assistant brought lunch to me.

Okay now remember, ‘to’ is used to talk about destination or direction, where there’s movement involved. So in this example, ‘lunch’ is coming to me. I’m the destination for lunch. My assistant physically carried the lunch and delivered it to me.

My boss brought lunch for me. 

So remember, ‘for’ is used to do something nice for someone, right? Or to help someone with something. My boss brought it to me because he wanted to do something nice for me. Both of those sentences are grammatically correct but using ‘for’ or ‘to’ changes the meaning, right? So you’ve got to be careful!

I made a quick phone call to my mum.

So ‘to’ helps us to understand the direction of the action, the destination of my phone call. I called and my mum received my phone call.

I made a quick phone call for my mum.

I’m doing her a favour now, aren’t I? I’m helping her. I’m making a call to someone else because maybe my mum couldn’t call them or maybe she didn’t want to for some reason so I called that person for her to help her, right?

Now there’s a bunch of different situations where you can use ‘to’ and ‘for’, but really, trying to memorise all of those situations is a pretty difficult way to learn them. There are just too many and it becomes really difficult and confusing to try and remember them all.

Now, back at the start of this lesson, I said that learning to use prepositions in context is really important. It’s the best way to learn to use prepositions correctly in English. Learning common collocations is going to be really useful for you. Like I said, it’s best to learn prepositions with the verb or the noun that they’re commonly used with.

Have you heard of collocations before? It means when words are often together in a sentence. They appear often in that way and so you’ll often hear them together, they sound right. They sound natural. And if they’re used incorrectly, they kind of sound weird or wrong. So memorising or becoming familiar with collocations is a really good strategy to help you remember which preposition is the right one to use. So do you want some examples? Let’s talk about some now.

apologise + for (something)
apologise + to (someone)

So with this verb, ‘apologise’, both prepositions can be used but with different results. We can apologise for something, the action. Or we can apologise to someone, so that’s the person receiving the apology.

He’s calling to apologise for missing the meeting yesterday.
He should apologise to his boss for missing the meeting yesterday.

Okay? So you’re sorry for missing the meeting but you need to apologise to your boss. Your boss is the person that you need to apologise to. So try to remember these collocations next time you do something wrong, right? When you’ve messed up and you’ve made a mistake. Try testing them out. You apologise to someone or you apologise for something.

travel + to (somewhere
travel + for (purpose/time)

Now we also travel to somewhere, right?

We travel to Cube for the holidays!
Have you ever travelled to Europe?

Okay, we use ‘travel to‘ but we also use ‘travel for‘ when we’re talking about a purpose or even a time.

I’m travelling for three weeks.
I’m travelling for work.

For the purpose of work, right?

apply + for (something)
apply + to (person)

You apply for something, right?

I’m applying for a scholarship.
I’m applying for a new job. 

But we can also apply to a person, okay?

ask + for (something) 

We ask for something, right?

I’m asking for a new backpack for my birthday.
Ask for help if you don’t understand!

If you need it. Ask for help.

belong + to (someone/a group)

We use ‘belong to‘ when we’re talking about ownership or being part of something, right?

Do you know whose dog that belongs to?
That car that I smashed belongs to my dad’s company.

Notice that we don’t use ‘belong for‘, right?

care + for (something/someone)

We also care for something or someone.

I’ve taken time off work to care for my mum after her operation. 

prepare + for (something

We prepare for something, right?

I need to prepare for my exam tomorrow!
Can you please help me prepare for dinner tonight? There’s a lot of people coming around.

wait + for (something/someone)
wait + to (do something)

Now we use ‘wait for’ something or someone, right? ‘Wait for‘ with a noun.

I’ve been waiting for the bus forever. It’s taking ages!
Can you please wait for me?

All right, we’re waiting for something but we can also wait to do something. Okay, we can ‘wait to buy‘, you know. So ‘wait to‘ is followed by a verb.

If you can learn and remember some of those collocations that we just talked about, they’re really common. They occur all the time. Well, then you’ll be so much closer to using the prepositions ‘to’ and ‘for’ like a total pro! Actually, why don’t you give that a go right now? Right now! Practice makes perfect, right? So in the comments, pick a few of those common collocations, the ones that we just talked about.

Maybe challenge yourself a little by picking the ones that you haven’t heard very much or you don’t use very much yourself. But write a few sentences in the comments below. I’ll be checking to see if you’ve got them right and give you some feedback if you need it okay?

Thanks for joining me today! Make sure you subscribe if you haven’t already and send me a little message down below and say hi. If you want to keep practising though, of course, you want to keep practising, right? Check out this lesson here or this one is the present perfect lesson that I mentioned earlier where I talk a bit more about using ‘for’ Okay? ‘for’ and ‘since’. I’ll see you in the next lesson!

What’s that word when the left and right of something are not interchangeable?

• #1

Hello,

Is the word right in these sentences adjective or adverb?
I got most of the questions right.
For once, he got my name right.
Let me get this right: you want me to lend you $1,000?!
When you’re making a measurement be careful to get it right.

And if it is adjective, why it should be so?

Thanks a lot,

• #2

Maybe you could try asking yourself whether, as an alternative to right, it would make sense to replace them with correct (adjective) or correctly (adverb)?

• #3

I couldn’t get which one you mean. But I think it should be adverb. Am I right?

• #4

No. I think they’re all adjectives (since “get it right” means “make it correct” / “make sure it’s correct”).

But note:

Let me get this right… (adjective) (right modifies the pronoun)​

Did I hear you right? (adverb) = Did I hear you correctly? (right modifies the verb “hear”)​

• #5

But I think they’re adverbs, because I think the first sentence means: I gave the right answers to most of the questions. The second means: He used my correct name not a wrong one. The next means: Let me check if I understood what you mean correctly. And the last one means: When you’re measuring something be careful you’re doing it correctly.

• #6

But those are not the constructions you’re asking about – they’re rewrites of them in different constructions, in two of which the use of right would indeed mean correctly and therefore be adverbial. Instead of paraphrasing the original sentences, think about what the word right modifies in them:

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.

Adjectives modify nouns.

questions / name / this / it — these are what your 4 uses of right modify, and they are all nouns.

• #7

Rghit, that’s what I mean. I think in all of them right is modifying the verb, get, not the nouns: questions / name / this / it. Don’t you think so?
When you look at the definition of get something right, you see this: to do, say, or understand (something) accurately or correctly
Or maybe there’s something else that I can’t see in these sentences. Maybe get something right is an idiom or a fixed expression that in it right is about something?

Last edited: Dec 16, 2019

• #8

I agree that «right» is an adverb in all four sentences, modifying the verb «get».

If «get» had been a linking verb, then «right» might have been an adjective.

But it’s not a linking verb here.

Still, the case isn’t clear-cut since one cannot idiomatically move around the «right»:

I got right most of the questions. ​

I right got most of the questions. ​

Right I got most of the questions. ​

In spite of that, I still feel it’s an adverb since I cannot link it directly to any of the nouns, which would be the only way to make it an adjective, as in I got most of the right questions.

Last edited: Dec 16, 2019

• #9

So if it is to be an adjective in these 4 sentences, get should be a linking verb in these sentences, whereas it is not a linking verb. Right is directed to the verb and modifies the action in progress not the nouns?

• #10

It’s easy to see how this usage could be read the way EStjarn is reading it, since one of the very many ways in which the word get is used is as a transitive verb with multiple nuances of meaning, such as fetch, obtain, receive, understand, etc. And if get were being used that way here, right would indeed work as an adverb (e.g. meaning in the correct/appropriate manner).

But here it forms part of the phrasal verbal “get [something] right”, rather than the construction being to get + direct object + adverb. If it were that adverbial construction, what would get mean? And why would right not be omissible, as an adverb such as easily or quickly would be?

Lastly, if right were being used here as an adverb, surely it would be possible to replace it with wrongly, rather than wrong? But that’s not the case:

I got most of the questions wrong wrongly ​

For once, he got my name wrong wrongly ​

Let me get this wrong wrongly ​

When you’re making a measurement be careful to get it wrong wrongly ​

• #11

It makes sense that «get right» would be (or function as) a phrasal verb since the position of «right» is fixed.

But phrasal verbs, whether transitive or intransitive, are made up of a verb and a particle, and that particle is, as I understand it, either a preposition or an adverb.

Since «right» is not a preposition it ought to be an adverb.

(I’ve never heard of a phrasal verb that combined a verb and an adjective.)

(As to the «wrong/wrongly» argument: if «get right» is treated as a phrasal verb, then «get wrong» must be treated that way too, meaning the form is fixed.)

• #12

Are you saying that in your view to “get something wrongly” is correct English?

• #13

No, I’m saying that a phrasal verb is like an idiom: its form is fixed.

This means there’s no use changing the form (substituting «wrongly» for «wrong» or «rightly» for «right») to derive what word class we are dealing with.

• #15

But wrong: not in the correct way( You’ve spelled my name wrong.) has adverbial meanings too. You don’t have to replace it with wrongly.
sorry I reply so late. I’m so busy.

• #16

Yes, in that sentence, wrong is an adverb (see the examples here: Wrong | Meaning of Wrong by Lexico). It describes the way in which the action expressed by the verb is performed.

But in get something right, the verb get is used causatively, in the sense of making/putting it right (adjective), causing it to be right (adjective).

If you wanted to describe

the way in which that “getting” was done, you could say “I rightly got his name right” – where the adverb rightly (= fairly/justly) modifies the verb and the adjective right modifies the noun.

• #17

But in get something right, the verb get is used causatively, in the sense of making/putting it right (adjective), causing it to be right (adjective).

This is saying that in «I got most of the questions right», «get» makes «the questions» «right.» But what is «a right question»?

I know about right and wrong answers. But «a right question»? In this context it makes no sense.

That’s one reason I insist that «right» is an adverb.

One other reason may be illustrated with an example:

A and B are students who have just taken a test—the same test, answering the same questions.​

​

After the test the two students have the following exchange:​

A: I think I got most of the questions right.​

B: And I think I got most of the questions wrong.​

Now, if «right» and «wrong» were adjectives, they would modify the meaning of «the questions», making «the questions right» different from «the questions wrong.»

But A is referring to the exact same questions as B does. In other words, the meaning of «the questions» is not modified.

Instead, «right» and «wrong» modify the verb «get» such that we understand that A thinks he answered most of the questions correctly and B thinks he answered most of the questions incorrectly.

That is, «get right» may be paraphrased as «answer correctly» and «get wrong» may be paraphrased as «answer incorrectly.»

But then the question:

What about «I think I got most of the questions correct,» in which case «correct» would almost have to be an adjective (since dictionaries don’t list it as an adverb the way they do in the cases of «right,» «wrong,» and «straight»).

My view is that it’s still an adverb: that is, it’s an adjective functioning as an adverb, which makes it an adverb, if only in that particular case.

Last edited: Dec 17, 2019

• #18

Dear EStjarn
I don’t know enough to say if you are right or not, but I see what you mean and I think you can be right.
I think we need more people, especially native English speakers who have a degree in English, to give their opinions about the issue being discussed.
I will appreciate that.

• #19

This is saying that in «I got most of the questions right», «get» makes «the questions» «right.» But what is «a right question»?

This is fair comment, but it’s just one of those anomalies that English is full of and native speakers don’t think twice about. It so happens that the norm is to say that you got a question right, even though it would seem more logical to say that you got the answer to that question right.