to

I PREPOSITION AND ADVERB USES

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(Usually pronounced [[t]tə[/t]] before a consonant and [[t]tu[/t]] before a vowel, but pronounced [[t]tuː[/t]] when you are emphasizing it.)

1) PREP You use to when indicating the place that someone or something visits, moves towards, or points at.

Two friends and I drove to Florida during college spring break...

Ramsay made a second visit to Italy.

...a five-day road and rail journey to Peking...

She went to the window and looked out...

He pointed to a chair, signalling for her to sit.

2) PREP If you go to an event, you go where it is taking place.

We went to a party at the leisure centre...

He came to dinner...

I do hope you'll be able to come to the wedding...

Eliza accepted Charles' invitation to a house party.

3) PREP If something is attached to something larger or fixed to it, the two things are joined together.

There was a piece of cloth tied to the dog's collar...

Many patients prefer hand-held shower heads rather than those fixed to the wall...

Scrape off all the meat juices stuck to the bottom of the pan.

4) PREP You use to when indicating the position of something. For example, if something is to your left, it is nearer your left side than your right side.

Hemingway's studio is to the right...

You will see the chapel on the hill to your left...

Atlanta was only an hour's drive to the north.

5) PREP: v n PREP n When you give something to someone, they receive it.

He picked up the knife and gave it to me...

Firms should be allowed to offer jobs to the long-term unemployed at a lower wage.

6) PREP: adj/n PREP n You use to to indicate who or what an action or a feeling is directed towards.

Marcus has been most unkind to me today.

...troops loyal to the government.

...the problem of cruelty to children...

I have had to pay for repairs to the house.

7) PREP: adj/n PREP n You use to with certain nouns and adjectives to show that a following noun is related to them.

He is a witty man, and an inspiration to all of us...

Marriage is not the answer to everything...

She was very sympathetic to the problems of adult students.

8) PREP If you say something to someone, you want that person to listen and understand what you are saying.

I'm going to have to explain to them that I can't pay them.

9) PREP You use to when indicating someone's reaction to something or their feelings about a situation or event. For example, if you say that something happens to someone's surprise you mean that they are surprised when it happens.

To his surprise, the bedroom door was locked...

He survived, to the amazement of surgeons.

10) PREP You use to when indicating the person whose opinion you are stating.

It was clear to me that he respected his boss...

Everyone seemed to her to be amazingly kind.

11) PREP You use to when indicating what something or someone is becoming, or the state or situation that they are progressing towards.

The shouts changed to screams of terror.

...an old ranch house that has been converted to a nature centre.

...a return to active politics...

Charles has been promoted to general sales and marketing manager.

12) PREP: n PREP n To can be used as a way of introducing the person or organization you are employed by, when you perform some service for them.

Rickman worked as a dresser to Nigel Hawthorne...

He was an official interpreter to the government of Nepal.

13) PREP You use to to indicate that something happens until the time or amount mentioned is reached.

Every vehicle was banned from coming into Mexico City one day a week from Monday to Friday...

From 1977 to 1985 the United States gross national product grew 21 percent...

The annual rate of inflation in Britain has risen to its highest level for eight years.

14) PREP: from n PREP n You use to when indicating the last thing in a range of things, usually when you are giving two extreme examples of something.

I read everything from fiction to history.

...mechanical toys and gadgets, from typewriters to toy cars.

...new orders for everything from computers to trucks.

15) PREP: from n PREP n If someone goes from place to place or from job to job, they go to several places, or work in several jobs, and spend only a short time in each one.

Larry and Andy had drifted from place to place, worked at this and that.

16) PHRASE: PHR after v If someone moves to and fro, they move repeatedly from one place to another and back again, or from side to side.

→ See also to-ing and fro-ing

She stood up and began to pace to and fro...

The boat was rocking gently to and fro in the water.

17) PREP: num/n PREP num You use to when you are stating a time which is less than thirty minutes before an hour. For example, if it is `five to eight', it is five minutes before eight o'clock.

At twenty to six I was waiting by the entrance to the station...

At exactly five minutes to nine, Ann left her car and entered the building.

18) PREP: amount PREP amount You use to when giving ratios and rates.

...engines that can run at 60 miles to the gallon.

...a mixture of one part milk to two parts water.

19) PREP You use to when indicating that two things happen at the same time. For example, if something is done to music, it is done at the same time as music is being played.

Romeo left the stage, to enthusiastic applause...

Amy woke up to the sound of her doorbell ringing...

`I've got an idea,' said Edward to a chorus of groans.

20) CONVENTION (emphasis) If you say `There's nothing to it', `There's not much to it', or `That's all there is to it', you are emphasizing how simple you think something is.

`There is nothing to it,' those I asked about it told me...

She's going through a difficult time. That's all there is to it.

21) ADV: ADV after v If you push or shut a door to, you close it but may not shut it completely.

He slipped out, pulling the door to.

22) → See also according to

II USED BEFORE THE BASE FORM OF A VERB

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(Pronounced [[t]tə[/t]] before a consonant and [[t]tu[/t]] before a vowel.)

1) to inf You use to before the base form of a verb to form the to-infinitive. You use the to-infinitive after certain verbs, nouns, and adjectives, and after words such as `how', `which', and `where'.

The management wanted to know what I was doing there...

She told ministers of her decision to resign...

Trish was the first to see him...

Nuclear plants are expensive to build, though cheap to operate...

Darling! It's lovely to see you...

She did not take the judge's advice about how to do her job...

The Foreign Minister is to visit China...

The youngest child, John, was to die at the age of fourteen.

2) to inf You use to before the base form of a verb to indicate the purpose or intention of an action.

in order to → see order

...using the experience of big companies to help small businesses...

He was doing this to make me more relaxed...

He is leaving tomorrow to play his first match.

...programs set up to save animals...

To help provide essential nourishment, we've put together these nutritious drinks.

Syn:

in order to

3) to inf You use to before the base form of a verb when you are commenting on a statement that you are making, for example when saying that you are being honest or brief, or that you are summing up or giving an example.

I'm disappointed, to be honest...

Well, to sum up, what is the message that you are trying to get across?

4) to inf (emphasis) You use to before the base form of a verb in exclamations when you are emphasizing a very strong emotion, such as a desire or wish, or a regret or disappointment.

Oh, to think of his poor wife, standing there helpless...

But then to be let down like that, oh it's so unfair!

5) to inf You use to before the base form of a verb when indicating what situation follows a particular action.

He made his way to the kitchen to find Francis cooking...

From the garden you walk down to discover a large and beautiful lake...

He awoke to find Charlie standing near the bed.

6) You use to with `too' and `enough' in expressions like too much to and old enough to; see and enough.