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WotD: Send for vs send to
English prepositions are tricky.
Actually, for an English teacher like me, they are my bread and butter, and the bane of all English language students.
Two challenging phrases that came up in my lessons recently are the difference between send for and send to.
They might look alike, but the preposition changes everything.
Let’s break down how to use each one properly.
First, send for is used when you ask someone to come to you or to bring something to you.
It implies a request that someone or something be brought to where you are.
For example, if your friend is visiting you in the hospital and you suddenly take a turn for the worse, they might say, “I will send for a doctor.”
Here, they’re asking someone to call a doctor to come to your bed.
Another example: “We need more supplies; let’s send for them.”
Again, the focus is on asking for something to be brought to you.
On the other hand, send to is used when you are dispatching (sending) something or someone from your location to another place or person.
For instance, “I will send this package to my friend in London, Ontario.”
In this case, you are the one initiating the transfer, and the package is going away from you to a specific destination.
Another example: “She sent her application to the university.”
To sum up, use send for when you want someone or something to come to you, and use send to when you are sending something or someone away from you to a different location.
Getting these prepositions right will help you communicate more clearly and avoid confusion in both written and spoken English.
These may seem like small things, but they often cause big problems.
Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves.
Happy studying!
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On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 63.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.
