As a continuation of the series on frequently-confused English prepositions, this post focuses on the word ‘to’. For more information on prepositions in general, please see the relevant post. Prepositions are words that help establish relationships between different elements in a sentence, such as nouns, pronouns and phrases, by indicating location, time, direction, movement, possession and more.
The main uses of the word ‘to’ are to indicate direction, destination and movement, but also purpose, result, connection, relationship, time, comparison and various other relationships between objects or concepts. ‘To’ is also known as an infinitive particle because, although it is not a part of the infinitive form of the verb in English, it is frequently used to mark it.
The origins of the word ‘to’
The word ‘to’ has its origins in the Old English (450 – 1100 AD) word ‘tō,’ which was used as a preposition and an adverb. In Old English, ‘tō’ indicated movement, direction, purpose or result, much like its modern usage. ‘Tō’ could also signify a connection or relationship between things.
Going further back to before the existence of Old English, the Germanic ancestor of ‘tō’ is thought to be the Proto-Germanic word ‘*tō’, which shares similar meanings of direction and purpose. ‘Proto-Germanic’ is the reconstructed ancestor of the Germanic language family, from which modern Germanic languages like English, Swedish, Norwegian and Dutch evolved. The Proto-Germanic ‘*tō’ is connected to the Proto-Indo-European root ‘*de’, which had the general sense of ‘to’ or ‘towards.’ ‘Proto-Indo-European’ is the hypothesised ancestral language of the Indo-European language family, believed to have given rise to languages such as English, Spanish, Hindi and many others.
This root, ‘*de’, is widely reconstructed in various Indo-European languages and has contributed to words with similar meanings in other languages as well. Because few people wrote language in ancient times, sounds like ‘d’ easily evolved to ‘t’ sounds in some dialects and languages as time passed over centuries and people changed the way they said things, as they continue to do today. This long linguistic history of the word ‘to’ is one demonstration among many of the interconnectedness and persistence of fundamental concepts across different cultures and times.
Let’s have a look at the use of the word ‘to’:
Direction or movement
‘To’ is commonly used to indicate the direction in which someone or something is moving:
- She walked to the park
- We’re driving to Paris
Destination
‘To’ indicates the destination or endpoint of an action:
- We’re going to the beach
Time
‘To’ can be used to express time relationships:
- Appointments run from 2pm to 4pm
- The event is from noon to midnight
Purpose
‘To’ can indicate the reason for an action, or the intended outcome:
- She went to the shop to buy groceries
Extent or range
‘To’ can denote a range or extent:
- The temperatures ranged from 20°C to 25°C
- The road runs from London to Birmingham
Relationship or connection
‘To’ can indicate a relationship or connection between things:
- The key to success is hard work (and a little luck)
Comparison
In comparisons, ‘to’ can highlight similarities:
- Her voice is similar to that of an angel
Expression of proportion or ratio
‘To’ is used to show ratios or proportions:
- The ratio of boys to girls at this school is 2:3 (two to three)
Indicating contact or connection
‘To’ can express contact, attachment or connection:
- The paper is taped to the wall
- She is attached to him
Indicating an action or reaction
‘To’ can show a response or an action in relation to something:
- She opened the door to find a surprise
Infinitive marker
Also called the infinitive particle, ‘to’ is used before a verb to mark that the base form is part of the infinitive form of the verb:
- I want to learn
- She loves to run
Infinitive as a noun substitute
‘To’ can be used to replace a noun when using an infinitive phrase:
- I prefer running to walking
Part of infinitive phrases
‘To’ can be part of infinitive phrases that function as nouns, adjectives or adverbs:
- Noun phrase: her goal is to win
- Adjective phrase: it’s a place to visit
- Adverbial phrase: he studied to improve himself
Countless uses in prepositional phrases
‘To’ is used in various prepositional phrases to convey specific meanings, often context-dependent:
- She sang a lullaby to the baby
These are some of the primary ways in which the word ‘to’ is used in the English language. Its versatility allows it to convey a wide range of meanings and relationships in different contexts.
Phrasal verbs and common collocations
A phrasal verb is a native English expression containing a verb and a preposition (and sometimes also an adverb or other parts of speech); it is a phrase that functions as a verb. The English language, along with a number of other Central European languages, but perhaps slightly more so, is notorious for having a large number of phrasal verbs. The following are some of the better known verbs that collocate with ‘to’, along with some phrasal verbs with their definitions provided.
- Get to
- Come to
- Lead to
- Get used to = become accustomed to
- Look up to = admire, respect
- Run into = meet, meet with, collide
- Get down to = begin
- Set out to = intend
- Take to = warm to, develop a liking for
- Get around to
- Get back to
- Come down to
- Boil down to = the most important result, the main reason for something
- Be up to = capable of something, in the process of doing something
- Get through to = be heard, be understood
- Hold on to
- Look forward to
- Catch up to
- Talk down to = treat as inferior
- Get on to
- Point to = indicate
Please note that this list might not be exhaustive as there are many phrasal verbs in the English language.
Those of the above phrasal verbs that have multiple meanings or cannot be literally understood have been defined. A great many English phrasal verbs, such as ‘to boil down to’ or ‘to get on to’, can seem somewhat nonsensical when their meaning is unknown, like random words thrown together to mean something entirely different in unison than their literal, independent meanings.
Phrasal verbs are collocations, and it is important to understand that other words and prepositions can also collocate with the above phrases in place of ‘to’, which could change the meaning of those phrases.
Conclusion
The word ‘to’ has a wide variety of uses and cannot be easily defined in a couple of words. The word ‘to’ does also not translate easily into other languages, where it can sometimes mean what it means in English, and sometimes mean what in the English language would be expressed with another preposition. Moreover, ‘to’ can sometimes be interchanged with other prepositions that have a similar meaning, such as ‘till’.
- The meeting is from 3pm to 5pm
- The meeting is from 3pm till 5pm
It is important to learn prepositions by becoming familiar with the sounds and uses of the English language in an instinctive way. Prepositions are one of the hardest parts of English to master and therefore their correct application is the mark of an advanced speaker.
Exercises to practise
Have a go at the following exercises to see whether ‘to’ is the correct preposition in the given contexts.
If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, please do add them below.
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