I. PREPOSITION AND ADVERB USES
Usually pronounced /tə/ before a consonant and /tu/ before a vowel, but pronounced /tu:/ when you are emphasizing it.
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
Note: In addition to the uses shown below, 'to' is used in phrasal verbs such as ‘see to’ and ‘come to’. It is also used with some verbs that have two objects in order to introduce the second object.
1.
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...
...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.
PREP
2.
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...
PREP
3.
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...
Scrape off all the meat juices stuck to the bottom of the pan.
PREP
4.
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...
Atlanta was only an hour’s drive to the north.
PREP
5.
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.
PREP : v n PREP n
6.
You use to to indicate who or what an action or a feeling is directed towards.
Marcus has been most unkind to me today...
I have had to pay for repairs to the house.
PREP : adj / n PREP n
7.
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...
PREP : adj / n PREP n
8.
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.
PREP
9.
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.
He survived, to the amazement of surgeons.
PREP
10.
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.
PREP
11.
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.
PREP
12.
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.
PREP : n PREP n
13.
You use to to indicate that something happens until the time or amount mentioned is reached.
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.
PREP
14.
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.
PREP : from n PREP n
15.
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.
PREP : from n PREP n
16.
If someone moves to and fro , they move repeatedly from one place to another and back again, or from side to side.
She stood up and began to pace to and fro...
PHRASE : PHR after v
17.
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.
PREP : num / n PREP num
18.
You use to when giving ratios and rates.
...engines that can run at 60 miles to the gallon.
PREP : amount PREP amount
19.
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...
PREP
20.
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.
Once they have tried growing orchids, they will see there is really nothing to it.
CONVENTION [ emphasis ]
21.
If you push or shut a door to , you close it but may not shut it completely.
He slipped out, pulling the door to.
ADV : ADV after v
22.
see also according to
II. USED BEFORE THE BASE FORM OF A VERB
Pronounced /tə/ before a consonant and /tu/ before a vowel.
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
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...
to inf
2.
You use to before the base form of a verb to indicate the purpose or intention of an action.
...using the experience of big companies to help small businesses...
He was doing this to make me more relaxed...
= in order to
in order to: see order
to inf
3.
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?
to inf
4.
You use to before the base form of a verb when indicating what situation follows a particular action.
From the garden you walk down to discover a large and beautiful lake...
He awoke to find Charlie standing near the bed.
to inf
5.
You use to with ‘too’ and ‘enough’ in expressions like too much to and old enough to ; see too and enough .